Crossing a Thin Line
by Chichihua
Summary: Sakura gets taken by Akatsuki and is to lure them to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the group she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine. DeiSaku
1. The Hunt is Open

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku and KakuXoc

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku and KakuXoc

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein

_Mentioned:_ SakuKiba

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

**-------------------- Chapter One --------------------**

_The hunt is open…_

His head felt heavy as lead when he finally cracked his eyes open, ready to face whatever had blown him in this state. The first thing that he realised was that his porcelain mask of the ANBU had been removed. He frowned slightly. Now they knew what he looked like but the possibility of him ever leaving this place alive was rather slim anyhow.

"I see that you have awoken." A soft voice came from somewhere in the room. The man let his eyes wander around yet he only saw one person within the light. That was a man dressed in the Akatsuki uniform but without a shirt underneath the cloak. His violet eyes were cold, deadly and kept staring in his direction. This wasn't right. The man didn't have the figure to produce such a soft voice. Or he had had some serious problems with his puberty.

"What the fuck are you staring at?" the man asked with an aggressive tone in his voice.

The ANBU was sure of it now, this man had a much lower voice than the previous one. Perhaps it was all an imagination which was taking a run with him?

The sharp sound of metal sliding over the concrete caught his attention again. The silver-haired man in front of him had taken his weapon. A large, three-bladed scythe with a red color.

"Should we start already or wait until he is fully with his senses?" Again that soft voice. He had kept his eyes upon the Akatsuki in front of him and he had not moved his lips one bit. There had to be another person within the room though the fact that he couldn't sense that one slightly disturbed him.

"Let's start now. The sooner this starts the sooner it'll be over and then I can sacrifice his atheist ass to Jashin-sama." The man silenced for a short while. "The way I know you we're gonna be in this lowlife dungeon for the rest of the day before you finally put that dickhead out of his misery."

"I have no problems with you leaving the room, Hidan." That soft voice muttered, faint as the whispering of the wind.

"Hell no! I promised to sacrifice this fucker to Jashin-sama and I've got to keep an eye on him to make sure you don't do any immoral things with him!"

"Your religion supports utter destruction and murder… What immoral things could I do to him?"

"He has to be killed in the right way and not the heathen methods you use. Only the best for Jashin-sama."

"If he dies he dies… There is no such thing as the wrong or right method of killing. As long as he doesn't move or breathe anymore it is alright…"

"You know what, Shinkan?" he sounded rather annoyed and aggressive. "Go eat a dick! I'll handle this."

The ANBU narrowed his eyes. He had two names. Hidan, who was the man and Shinkan, the unknown person who was still lurking in the shadows. They didn't seem to be on good terms due to the man's religion. Perhaps he could take advantage out of this and escape through it.

Hidan suddenly moved his head towards the ANBU member and smiled at him in a way only psychopaths could. "Already aching for some action?" he chuckled darkly.

The ANBU frowned as he didn't understand. Was this man talking to him? He tried to look but something obscured his vision. It was only after a second that it hit him. The other person stood right next to him. Not even an inch away. How had he not noticed this one's presence from this distance?

"Have a seat, Hidan. You may do your little tricks a bit later." He was sure of it now. This was a woman. Hidan however did what was asked of him. He stepped away and sat on a random chair while watching the two intensely. Every muscle in his body was tense, he just wanted to have some action of his own.

"What is your name, ANBU?" she asked with that soft tone again. He didn't answer it. His name was top-secret. Only the Hokage knew it. Besides now he wasn't who he was when he was born. Now he was just one of the elites under the Hokage's order. He did not have a name and not even an identity.

"I can promise you that things will transcend easier if you just give us your name." she said again, slowly stepping into his vision. The ANBU tried to listen to her footsteps but he couldn't hear a thing. Not the stereotypical thud from the heel ticking the concrete nor even the rustling of the sole on the floor. She was a born assassin.

Now he had a good look at her. The first thing that struck him was the fact that she did not had a normal skin color. It was a pale grey. He could see now how he hadn't noticed her in the shadows. Her skin almost matched the grey of the concrete walls and floor. Her hair on the other hand was white. She could've just stepped out of a grayscale picture. She was a person who only consisted out of various shades of grey, save for her cloak which was the standard outfit for Akatsuki. From the purest white of her hair to the deepest black of her sclera. But there was one piece of her body which did not apply to that rule. Her eyes. They were the brightest orange he had ever seen in his life. Those eyes even seemed to be the most vivid part in the room.

"If you do not wish to tell your name I shall respect that. I shall give you a name so it will make things easier." She kept quiet for a while as she circled the man upon the chair, touching her chin as she was thinking. "I shall name you Araki… Your brown hair does remind me of rough wood." She explained.

"Just get this over with, Shinkan!" Hidan muttered, groaning in impatience. "I would've made him talk by now!"

"Your ways of doing things are not like mine, Hidan." She just said with that soft voice of hers. It almost seemed hypnotic to the newly named Araki.

"Araki, you and your team were brought here to spy upon Akatsuki, am I right? You were caught while spying around and you got captured." She summarised the events up 'till now. "Hidan and I were chosen for the job Konoha refers to as T&I, I think. Torture and Interrogation. Since we both have techniques that could make it hard for you to keep your lips tight. But all of that can be prevented…" She stopped right in front of him, smiling like she was his friend.

"I'll never talk!" Araki retorted. "No matter what you do to me! I'll never talk!"

"Oh you little fucker… Do you really think she wants you to talk?" Hidan asked, while laughing. "She doesn't want you to talk. She wants you to scream while you squirm in pain and agony. She wants you to-"

'That'll do, Hidan." Shinkan said with a stern voice before shooting the man a deadly glare. "Or I shall start by giving Araki here a little demonstration in which I torture you." Again she turned her slim features towards the captive Leaf-ninja and sighed. "If you do not cooperate with me I will have to rely on things you would not wish to experience."

"Try your worst!"

"Do not taunt the bull, Araki. You should expect its horns… I will give you this one chance. All I need is to know where the Kyuubi is right now. He is not to be found within Konoha and therefore he must be with the toad sannin, Jiraiya. All I need from you is how do I get in reach with him."

"I know nothing of the Kyuubi!" Araki growled.

"True enough… The Kyuubi is a matter which is considered to be taboo within Konoha since the demonic fox took the life of the Fourth Hokage. The Third Hokage wanted to give the Jinchuuriki a normal life unlike those others who are avoided and treated as if they have leprosy." She mused. Araki blinked. How could she know so much of the Kyuubi in Konoha? Then it hit him. They had Itachi and he would've talked a bit about the situation of the nine-tails.

"I'm not telling you a thing! You can torture me all you want! I won't speak!"

The woman smirked at him in a mischievous way. She glanced down, at her hand almost as if it were alien to her. "You should be aware of the fact that once I was an interrogator myself… In my previous village. You are not the first elite shinobi I have to break. Unlike Hidan proposed I will not waste my time trying to discomfort you with pains. There are other methods to gain the answer I want…" She turned back and faced Hidan. "You may do as you please, Hidan. It is your turn."

"Finally!" the man grinned. But unlike Araki had expected the man wasn't walking in his direction. He moved out of the room and vanished for some minutes before he reappeared with another ninja. This one still had its ANBU mask on. But he didn't even need to see the cat-like mask to know who it was. The long, blonde hair already told him that it was Asakaze, his feminine teammate. His eyes widened. He had known her ever since he was a genin. She had always been the kunoichi on his team.

"Love… It conquers all, they say." The musing voice of Shinkan muttered. "Let me explain to you what is going to happen-"

"If you dare touch her, you foul bastard then I'll personally kill you!"

Hidan started to laugh. "I wish you could kill me, bastard. But if even that bitch could ground you, you won't stand a chance against me…"

"You can still save your bonny-eyes." the feminine Akatsuki mumbled. "Give us information concerning the Kyuubi. Keep in mind though that I value my life too much to interrupt my partner in the midst of his ritual. The information given to me has to be of a decent value."

"Don't!" the ANBU-kunoichi said. "I can handle it."

"How precious. This entire scene is turning into one of those corny tales." The white-haired woman muttered before she leaned against the wall, right next to Araki.

"You may start, Hidan. He isn't going to listen to me. But do take her mask off. I want him to see the agony upon her face. And keep it calm, will you? She is not to die yet."

The man started to laugh in a maniacal way. The chilling sound bubbling from deep within him. "Fuck you, bitch. I'm going to handle this my way!" he smirked. "I've been waiting to do this… And I'm going to fucking enjoy it as well!"

"Does not sound very good. It's up to you, Araki. I can stop him from mutilating your precious girl. I just need to hear information which I can use to achieve our goal."

The look in those green eyes of Araki betrayed that he was struggling with himself. He was to choose for the faith of his village or that of his teammate, friend and even lover.

He whipped his head up at the sound of Asakaze screaming. She was kneeling upon the ground and the bigger form of Hidan hung around her as a blanket, but not a comfortable one. His head laid in the crook of her neck and his teeth scraped over her skin before he suddenly bit her, drawing blood in the process. Like a thirsty dog he lapped the blood off her skin and while he was doing so his skin changed color. He was turning black while white bone-like markings appeared upon his body. The resemblance to the grim reaper was striking and terrifying. Again a dark chuckle came from his lips, quickly bursting out in a roaring laughter.

Araki felt sick. Sick because he had to watch this girl, who he loved, being tortured by that deranged man. He wanted to shout out the things these two wanted to know but he couldn't. He couldn't because he'd ruin his trust with the Hokage and partly because he didn't knew anything at all which concerned the Kyuubi. He knew that it was Naruto, like most of the others in the village now. He knew he was gone with Jiraiya but to where or for what was left in the dark. Nobody knew that not even the Hokage to prevent things like this.

The man walked away from Asakaze and he took his distance once more. At this the other female in the room moved again. She knelt in front of the leaf-kunoichi and took the mask off her face. "You have the right to say things as well, girl." The Akatsuki whispered in the kunoichi's ear. "He is just getting started and it won't end before I know what I want to know."

In reaction Asakaze spat in Shinkans face. But the latter remained calm under it. She made a quick seal and the spit upon her face started to evaporate with a hissing sound. "Wrong choice." Was all the Akatsuki muttered before taking her distance and taking her place next to the masculine ANBU again.

Hidan gasped in pain as he had stabbed himself with a long, black pike in his side. The blood started to gush out of the wound and he used it to create a perfect circle with a triangle in it.

"Everything is set. The ceremony can begin!" he snickered madly.

"Don't get too jumpy, Hidan-kun." Shinkan remarked again, wiping the remains of saliva from her face and glaring with a hint of anger towards Asakaze. "I want her to feel every single bit of pain. Don't start stabbing wildly. Take some time between two wounds or else one pain will rule over the other."

"As if I don't know that, bitch!" the man snapped at her. "How about we start to immobilize you? It's not like you're going to need those pretty legs to run around." He held the pike above his head and slammed it right into his right leg.

Asakaze yelped in pain and started to squirm against her restrains. Blood appeared upon her own leg.

"What? What happened?" Araki called out, confused because of the wound Hidan had inflicted upon himself and which was now applied to his feminine teammate. He wanted to ignore it but he could see the agony upon her face. Her lower lip was swollen because she constantly bit on it to keep her screams to the lowest.

"Hidan is immortal. He can't die but if he digests the blood of another person and stands within the symbol of his deity he can transfer the wounds caused to him or by him to the person whose blood he has taken in." Shinkan explained in a monotone voice. "Look at it like a living voodoo-doll."

"Voodoo-doll my ass! Voodoo is a fucking retarded religion invented by dick-sucking dogs!" Hidan yelled. "Don't you even dare to compare Jashinism to that heathen religion!"

"Or else what?" Shinkan asked, smiling in his direction. "It is not likely that you will ever succeed in getting my blood. You do know of my abilities, do you not? Besides, you stated it yourself. You are the member of Akatsuki who has the slowest pattern of attack."

"I have some other things in mind…" That smug expression on his face told Araki that that man knew of the weaknesses of Shinkan.

He heard the woman behind him gulp but she didn't answer him. "That is of no matter right now… We were ordered to interrogate these intruders." She defended herself.

"I don't give a rat's ass about what that leader wants. If I want to I'll torture you and sacrifice your smoking ass to Jashin. It isn't every day that he receives the soul of such a S-ranked heathen bitch like you."

Hidan was getting frustrated and roughly pulled the pike out of his leg, mutilating Asakaze in the same way. She screamed a muffled cry and suddenly the ropes which held the woman down started to burn and she was freed. But she had nowhere to go. Not with a leg looking like that. She used her arms to hug her leg to her body. As if she could protect herself by doing so.

Araki looked next to him. The fire-seal the woman held in front of her face told him that she had released his love but not to escape. Only to create more drama.

"Tell me, Araki-san." She said, lowering her hand to her side, and talking to him as if they had been friends for a long time. "Can you live with the fact that this girl is going to be tortured, killed and her soul send to Jashin while you had it all in your power to avoid it by just telling whatever you knew? She will not live a happy afterlife. The souls of sacrificed people for Jashin are not happy souls. The few texts I have red describe tales of eternal damnation, eternal separation from both their ancestors as the souls still inhabiting the earth…"

"Asakaze…" Araki muttered.

"If you die eventually you will not go to the same place." She stated calmly.

Sweat pearled upon his face as he looked from Asakaze to the man torturing her to the cruel lady next to him. "I don't know anything which concerns the Kyuubi!" he screamed. "Just let her go! And torture me instead!"

"Are you unfamiliar with the purpose of torture?" she asked him mockingly. "If you don't know its location than tell us who he is acquainted with."

"So you can torture them?" He thought of the eighteen year old medical kunoichi who was now safely in Konoha. Sakura Haruno. Then the mental image of Iruka Umino entered his mind. Kakashi followed to that and even Hinata Hyuuga wandered in his mind. He knew that Hinata and Naruto had something going on. The boy had practically screamed it over the entire town when they had first kissed so nobody in the entire surroundings of Konoha did not know of their relationship. But eventually he shook his head. "I won't!"

"I will be honest with you. Even if you tell me everything you know we are still obligated to kill you. No doubt about that. But I can make sure that you will see her in the afterlife and that her torture will end quickly and she will die without further pains. Hidan can go on like this for days and he will if I do not bring him to a halt." She mused.

'Damn that woman to hell and that masochist-bastard with her!' Araki thought. But she was right. Ninja did not value their lives but they did have an afterlife, or at least that was what their religion supported. If it was true what this woman was saying his love would even live her afterlife in agony and pain. Was that the price he was willing to pay? Just to keep the Jinchuuriki safe? Besides were the villagers of Konoha not protected enough by their own ANBU. Akatsuki wouldn't stand a chance against them… Would they?

"It's not that I mind if you don't tell me. We'll just seek out another pair of Konoha-citizens until we finally find someone who does know the location of that Jinchuuriki. Hidan doesn't mind at all. He has more souls he can send to that wretched place." Her voice lowered to a soft whisper. "It'll only be a waste of my time and Konoha's souls…"

Araki couldn't handle it anymore. He was not going to let that happen. She was right. If he didn't talk they would just go out and hunt other persons down. One member of this organisation was able to take down an elite 3-membered ANBU team down with only killing one in the process and keeping two alive for questioning. Who'd know what they were truly capable of? "Sakura Haruno!" he called out with tears in his eyes. He couldn't believe what he just said. He had condemned that innocent little girl to the deepest pits of hell. But she knew Naruto for the longest time but she was also the student of Tsunade. Surely she'd be protected good enough. "Just leave Asakaze alone!"

He closed his eyes tightly and only cracked them open a little. The prey of Hidan was covered with blood. Not a single piece of her body was left unharmed or unscarred. She had no longer the energy to scream and just laid there, trembling upon the floor in a puddle of her own blood.

"How are we to recognize her?" Shinkan asked him. "If you say it I'll untie you and let you be with your beloved."

"She's the student of the Hokage, medical ninja. Green eyes, pink hair. That's all I know!" he yelled in tears.

"That is all I need to know." The lady said with a smirk before making that same seal again. The ropes of this man caught fire and got eaten away by it. The ANBU broke loose and ran towards the woman upon the floor. He kneeled down and pressed her tender body against his.

Hidan could only laugh at the scene. "How precious." He whispered. "You get to feel how that bitch dies."

Araki's eyes widened. "Stop him! You said you were going to stop him from sacrificing her to that god of his!" he screamed.

Shinkan had an amused look upon her face. "I had told you that I would make Hidan end the torture, which he will be doing by immediately killing her. And then you're up next. You're going to join her in the afterlife." The woman only said before scribbling something on a note. No doubt it was everything she had heard from the ANBU's mouth.

"You deceived me!" was all he could mutter.

"Those things happen in life." The white-haired woman sighed before nodding to Hidan.

He brought the pike down upon his heart, shivering in pleasure while the girl on the floor choked, her eyes widened before she slowly closed her eyes and fell limp in Araki's arms.

"Asakaze?" he asked softly. "Asakaze?" His hands stroke through her blonde hair and he held her tightly against himself as if her soul would return to her body if he did so.

"You can actually consider yourself fucking lucky that I'm the one finishing you off now." Hidan smirked. "My manner of killing is gentle if you compare it to her way of ending ones life."

"You're both monsters! Freaks!"

"We're both Akatsuki, Araki-san. We have a goal in life and to achieve it some persons have to die." The woman on the other end of the room said. "Finish him off quickly, Hidan-kun. I'll tell Zetsu that his meal is ready."

"All in due time, bitch." Hidan mumbled before stepping out of the symbol on the floor. His skin had turned to its normal pale one and he grabbed his scythe, swinging it behind his head and then brought it down upon the man. A clean cut made an end to the mans life and he fell on his turn upon his lover, robbed from his life.

A fresh stream of blood widened the puddle beneath the pair.

It was just another normal day. Not too hot nor too cold. A pleasant autumn breeze cooled the crisp air and dragged some of the colourful leaves with it. Birds flew high above the ground, singing their songs while flying off to a better place to get through the upcoming winter.

But most of the creatures upon the ground were forced to stay in the area they lived now.

Konoha was peaceful nowadays. A wide array of factors had made sure of that but not everybody in the village agreed with those terms.

In the hospital of the hidden village a certain kunoichi was making her way through the halls, carefully making her way to the exit.

"Bye, Sakura-sempai! See you tomorrow!" a younger nurse called as the head medic walked past her.

"See you tomorrow, Sayuri-san. Practise some more on your examination jutsu and you'll do just fine."

"Thanks, Sakura-sempai. I hope to be as good as you someday!"

The pinkette could only smile at the young girl. The long time she had been training under Tsunade and the hard work she'd put in it were finally paying off. There were three considerably good medics in entire Konoha. Hokage-sama of course, Shizune and Sakura. And slowly but surely even her reputation was spread far across the borders of the Land of Fire. It was quite occasionally that she had to go to a neighbouring country to heal some of their more important villagers from serious illnesses. She even knew of some former enemy villages who became allied with the ninja village because they had the only medics who could heal some of those lethal sicknesses. But that didn't mean that every village would just turn in a truce or agree to some terms. Other cities and countries still had their pride and most other Ninja villages like Iwa actually found it offending that they had three medics of that calibre while the Stone village only had medics of average calibre, occasionally a quite talented one but not once was as good as the ladies from Konoha.

But those weren't the reasons why Sakura was doing this. She didn't want the fame or the glory. She just wanted to be able to help people. In her younger days she had felt enough uselessness for the rest of her life and she never wanted to go through that kind of thing again. Each time she just sat there and did something but never really helped the team.

And now she was able to help wounded people and she felt good about it.

At the moment she had other things to think about than medical ninjutsu or even jutsu for that matter. Tonight was going to be special, she could already feel it.

What was going to happen tonight? A double-date was. Ino had finally decided to settle down with one guy in stead of hovering from man to man. It seemed that she finally had found mister Right and that in the person Sakura would've least suspected. Ino had been so hyped up about her date that she asked, actually forced, Sakura to go on a date along with her. The medical kunoichi never had seen her friend so hyped up about a date before. Ino had confessed to her that she actually feared that she might screw it up with this guy and if that were to happen she knew she was going to die a little inside. All the pinkette could do was reassure the blonde that she was a gorgeous, smart and pleasant woman who couldn't ruin it.

And so Sakura was left with seeking a potential partner for the date of tonight. It had been quite a struggle. Naruto had discovered since half a year that Hinata liked him more than just a friendly way and he had to confess that his feelings towards her were actually the same, especially since he'd grown over his childhood crush which was Sakura.

Sai was another one she could ask but she preferred not to. Her 'cute' nickname was still 'Ugly' after all these years and she didn't want to be insulted on her date, not to mention the annoying questions he'd ask when they would see Ino and her new boyfriend. The meaning of 'sense the mood' was completely lost to him.

And due to her hard work at the hospital her free hours had slimmed down drastically and socializing wasn't something Sakura did very often. She was glad if she could sometimes chat up with her other kunoichi friends of her age. But for the boys she was completely lost. Except for Sai and Naruto who were her teammates she knew no other boys more than just a comrade.

So Ino had fixed her a date. Sakura was actually wondering who her best friend thought would fit her. She just hoped that it wouldn't be Shikamaru. He just seemed so uninterested in everything what happened around him and she thought he wouldn't be the affectionate, attentive boyfriend she always wanted. Besides Sakura knew that he and Temari had something more going on than just being colleagues during the Chuunin Exams.

There was another difference about her and Ino. Throughout the years Ino had realised that Sasuke had only been the popular boy and that that was the only reason why she loved him but Sakura had love Sasuke for who he was and because he unconsciously had asked her for it.

Eventually she saw her own apartment appearing in her view. A happy smile stood over the lips of Sakura as she entered her home. It was very big but she didn't need a spacious room just like the other ninja she wasn't here most of the time. She was in the hospital, on missions or just gone training or sparring with friends.

Quickly she dropped the bag she took to the hospital and placed it on the counter before stretching her sore neck.

In her mind she was already thinking of what she was going to wear this evening and kept wondering who it was she was going to meet. Ino knew tons and tons of boys so perhaps she would get to meet someone she hadn't even met before. Such a thing would be awkward but worth to try no less.

She did a quick trip to the bathroom to let her body, sore of all the hard work, relax a little under a warm stream of water.

When she was done she was clean and felt that way. Now she only had to get dressed and perhaps make it in time to meet up with Ino who'd bring her to the other boys.

For her outfit she was going with something formal but still casual. Gowns and cocktail dresses she didn't have because she felt no use for them. This was her first 'date' in a long time.

She went with a long, red dress which adorned her body and had a pair of matching boots under it. Sakura had never been the type to wear high-heels and she wasn't going to make a fool out of herself for trying it now just for some boy.

With one last glance, in the direction of the mirror, Sakura thought that she was ready to go out. One last time checking her make-up which only consisted out of only some lip-gloss and some mascara. As said before: she wasn't the girly-type but that didn't mean that she didn't like to look pretty for a date.

As Sakura made her way through the dark streets of Konoha her jade gaze caught someone standing at the place where they had agreed to meet each other. A smile appeared upon her lips as she recognized her best friend since she was a small kid and waved at her.

Ino turned around, making Sakura gasp at how she looked. She was dressed in the best clothes she had ever seen. A slightly sparkling bluish dress which wasn't very short but short enough to accent her long and slim legs. Her lower arms were adorned with sleeves of the same fabric and were fastened to two rings she wore. High heels were tightly wrapped around her pale ankles.

Her hair was also slightly different. She still had the bang but her high-ponytail had been released and now her long hair fell like a waterfall of gold to the floor.

"You look stunning, Ino! You really have set your eyes on this guy haven't you?" she asked with a slick grin.

"Ey! Forehead!" the blonde greeted her, flushing because of the comment. "You don't look that bad yourself."

"Nervous?"

She had to agree with the pinkette, she had never been this nervous before about dating a guy. "And you?"

"I'm more curious than nervous actually. Who did you thought that would suit me?"

"Don't be so impatient! You'll see him in a minute." Her friend said with a smug look on her face. It clashed for a moment with her beautiful and innocent appearance but she quickly straightened her face out again.

"Where are we going to meet them?" the pinkette asked, fidgeting with a bit of her dress as she was getting nervous as well since the moment that she would meet the man who Ino thought to be perfect for her neared with the second.

"Korean Barbeque restaurant. What?" Ino retorted. She asked as she saw Sakura's rather surprised look.

"That doesn't sound to be the most exquisite place in Konoha, does it?"

"So picky all of a sudden?" the Yamanaka heiress grinned.

"No, not that… I just can't see you sitting there in those clothes…"

Then it hit Ino. She smiled at Sakura and shook her head. "It's not that Barbeque restaurant," she ensured her friend. "The one we're going to is much more classy."

"Oh…" was all Sakura could mutter before flushing for questioning her friend's taste. Ino was by far the most 'girly-girl' she knew. Tenten was a mistress of weaponry and was even more of a tomboy than herself, Hinata was way to shy to bring up things Ino did all the time and Temari she was also quite a tomboy. Besides the latter she didn't saw that much anymore as she used to. The few times she was in Konoha she'd spend more time with Shikamaru than with her kunoichi-friends.

"Let's go." Ino said happily before moving from under the faint lamppost and in the direction of the centre of the town.

A few streets from the scene of Sakura and Ino the two men stood impatiently in front of the restaurant.

"Perhaps we should've rented a taxi or something to pick them up. What if something happens with them on the way here?" one of them asked to the other.

"They'll be just fine." The other muttered not too enthusiastic. He leant casually against the wall while waiting. "Don't forget that those two are by far the two scariest kunoichi I've ever seen… Save for my own mother then."

"Kiba!"

"What? I'm just saying that if any women can protect themselves it's them. Besides what can happen? We're in the middle of Konoha, it's not like enemies ever succeeded in getting this far in our village without getting noticed. Really… Relax, Choji. It's still too early to worry about them." The dog-nin gave the Akamichi a soft smile before looking around again. "And they're women. They are known to be tardy."

Choji on the other hand didn't buy it. He started to fumble with the tie of his tuxedo he was wearing for this occasion.

Kiba was wearing almost the same his tuxedo was only way more casual than Choji's as if it was pulled on quickly and sloppy, which probably was, but he was one of the few men who could still look classy in a sloppy tux. Suddenly the Inuzuka-heir stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. "They're coming. I can smell their scent and their perfume." He announced.

A relieved sigh came from Choji's mouth before he looked up to meet his date. He held the bouquet of roses behind his back and tried to smile as good as he could, only ending in him showing a forced one.

Ino and Sakura both smiled towards the two silhouettes who stood in front of the fancy looking restaurant. One of the two she could recognize easily. It was Choji because of his rather chubby appearance. The other one she hadn't seen until he was under the light. Her eyes widened slightly because of who she saw. Kiba? Of all the boys she had never expected him to stand there as her mysterious date.

"Hello, Kiba, Choji." She greeted them both.

"Hey, Kiba… Choji." Ino said first happily but as she said the latters name her voice sounded more passionate. Slowly the blonde made her way to the big man and stopped a few centimetres away from him. She gasped as Choji suddenly offered her the roses. She smiled happily and took them over before embracing the man and giving him a tender kiss.

Sakura felt happy for Ino, however she had also never expected them to be together. Ino and Choji had known each other for a long time and she had always seen Ino bickering with Choji over his weight.

Then she adjusted her glance from the kissing pair to Kiba and waved again awkwardly in his direction.

Kiba on the other hand did not have so much problems with this. He wasn't shy, not at all. He was even more extravert than Naruto. Rough yet gentle at the same way he wrapped his arms around Sakura's waste and gave her a soft kiss upon her lips, just a taste of what he could do.

Sakura blushed and bit her lower lip. "K-Kiba?" she asked then.

"What? One of us had to do it. And you weren't going to do it." He said as if that was an excuse for kissing her so abruptly.

Ino and Choji had kissed enough for now and looked for a minute towards Sakura and her date. "They get along quite well." Choji muttered.

"Of course they get along well! I arranged this date for them." Ino smirked, being full of herself again before hooking her own arm in Choji's and pulling him towards the restaurant. "Shall we go?" This was not a question as Ino just walked towards the entrance.

Kiba offered his arm to Sakura which she gladly accepted. He could be a gentlemen if he wanted to be one.

Once inside Sakura's eyes widened because of what she saw. The room was very wide and was decorated in a stylish way but not yet kitschy. The tables were all arranged in squares with a small cooking fire in the middle to prepare your own barbeque and had beautiful, white drapes on them. The only thing the kunoichi could think about was: 'What if I stain it?' Never in her life she had seen such luxury and style in one place and she was stunned that she had never seen this restaurant before in the eighteen years she had been living in Konoha.

"Classy, huh?" Ino asked as she had seen Sakura's stare. "Choji found this place when his parents were celebrating their wedding anniversary."

Choji nodded curtly and gave Ino again a smile before they made their way to the reservations.

"I have a reservation for Akimichi Choji." He said. The man in his uniform nodded and checked his book. His finder sliding over the lines before tapping one. "One table for four?" he asked.

"Hai!"

A waitress appeared in front of them. "Hello I'm Chihiro and I'll be your waitress for tonight. If you'd be so kind to follow me?" she asked, giving the guests a bright smile before turning around and striding along the tables with long, elegant passes.

Once they had taken place at their tables they had ordered sake for everybody and their meals. Ino immediately picked up a subject for the next conversation. "I'm really curious when Shikamaru's going to ask Temari." She started.

"Are they that far again?" Sakura wondered aloud. She had missed quite some by working at the hospital constantly.

"Sakura… They know each other now for six years and we all know that he fancies her for almost 4 years!" Ino retorted.

"Really? I never knew."

"He's just good at hiding it." Choji intervened.

"Hiding? He was just too lazy to say anything about it." Kiba laughed.

"Just like Hinata and Naruto."

"But they aren't that long together, you know. About half a year now."

"But Hinata's always been crazy about him ever since she first saw him. I still know how she used to faint each time we only mentioned his name."

"That's not funny, Kiba. She must've really pulled out some guts to just go out and kiss him."

"Actually… That kiss was planned by him." Choji muttered and everybody looked in his way except for Kiba.

"How would you know?"

"Well Naruto, Konohamaru, Kiba and me were playing a daring contest and Konohamaru had dared Naruto to kiss Hinata." He muttered.

"What? That's not romantic at all! Did you pull the same thing off with me?"

"No, Ino! I wouldn't dare such a thing!"

"Ino… You kissed him for the first time, remember?" Sakura tried to help her friend remember. The blonde immediately blushed at that statement and bit her lower lip.

"Sorry, Choji."

"No problem, Ino."

When their meal finally had arrived the conversation silenced a bit. Choji was being well… Being Choji and thus eating without speaking. Kiba felt a bit challenged and dug in with his other male shinobi.

Only Ino and Sakura were still talking even as their conversations went about a bit everything and nothing at the same time. They were just catching up on the latest events and recalling older memories.

When the dessert had been eaten and they had had another drink the four of them decided to take the show further down the road. A walk around the park would probably be good now.

_A/N: There it is, the first Chapter of my fanfic. Please R&R if you are so kind. _


	2. According to plan

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku and KakuXoc

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein, ShikaTema

_Mentioned:_ SakuKiba

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

**-------------------- Chapter Two --------------------**

_According to plan...  
_

The cool evening breeze did good to her skin. Especially since she had been sitting at a table with a hot fire in the middle of it. She was grateful that she could step out of that restaurant even though she had enjoyed it for the time being.

She had enough warmth coming from Kiba since he was walking right next to her and held her close to his body, wrapping a tender arm around her waist.

"I think it's funny." He suddenly muttered, adverting his gaze from the environment upon her cute face.

"What? How so?" A pink eyebrow rose at that statement. She had no idea what the dog ninja was suddenly talking about.

"You have to admit we weren't two people who would've done this without the interference of Ino. And yet I feel that you've been the piece missing in my life all this time."

Sakura smiled. She was discovering several things from the dog-nin which she'd never would've guessed and he wouldn't show much to anybody.

The Alpha-male of the Inuzuka-clan had a soft spot and she had just discovered it but somewhere it felt nice being with him but she doubted that they'd ever go as deep as Ino and Choji. She hadn't realised it before but those two were made for each other. How they were walking, it was purely love what they radiated. Ino clung to Choji and he didn't mind it. He caressed her hair as if it was a woven treasure and muttered soft words in her ear, probably they were his expressions of love for her.

Sakura felt warm and fuzzy on the inside by just watching them. She had seen this various times before with other couples but up 'till now it hadn't been granted to herself. But she wouldn't feel sad because of it. Surely there was a Mister Right for her in this world, she just had to find him and if there wasn't she would be happy enough with working for the hospital.

Yet it wasn't during the days that she felt lonely. Then she was surrounded by people of all sorts; patients, nurses, apprentices, other medics and visitors but once she entered her apartment she was welcomed by loneliness. Sure, she had friends, quite a few but they weren't always there for her. They had all started to settle down with lives of their own.

Her jade eyes moved over to Kiba who was still walking next to her. He was a kind man towards her, gentle and more mannered than she had believed he was but this wasn't going to be more than just a flirt and a kiss.

He may think of it in another way but Sakura just didn't felt that certain something which told you if someone was the one.

Suddenly she looked up from Choji and Ino who were walking a bit ahead. She could hear the soft whispering of them and the giggle of Ino.

The latter turned towards them. "I-I think that we should all be heading home, no?" she asked, giving Choji the look which told Sakura that she wasn't quite going home the way Sakura would. "If you two want to be together for a bit more time, that's fine with me. Choji and I are a bit tired so we're going home."

"Hai." Sakura smiled, waving at her friend and understanding the need to be alone with the one you loved most. Her smile quickly vanished to reform again in a smirk. "Don't go too rough on him, Ino. I have enough patients as it is!"

Ino blushed and waved the comment of her friend away like a pesky fly before the two lovers turned towards each other before pressing a tender kiss against each others lips and then they walked away, completely ignorant of their surroundings and only having an eye for each other.

As soon as the two had vanished out of sight Sakura gasped as she felt the embrace of Kiba around her waist tighten. She looked up at his smiling face and he stroke his forehead against hers. "How about we follow their advice and… go home?" he asked with a wink. The medical kunoichi didn't even need to see that wink to know that this canine master wasn't talking about an innocent stroll back to their houses and a goodbye. He was talking about the two of them going to one of their houses and stay there until they felt like leaving.

A slight blush appeared upon Sakura's cheeks at the statement of Kiba. He clearly wasn't beating about the bush. "Eh… Sure." She muttered a bit shy by his extravert behaviour.

"How about we're going to your home? We've got a less chance of… Interruption there." He smirked and licked his lips before holding the pinkette's head carefully in his hands to guide her mouth in the direction of his. A passionate kiss followed soon after.

Sakura felt her heart flutter by this kiss. Right now there may not be that special thing between them but if he was as good as kissing as he was in general then that might change, in Sakura's opinion.

---------------------------------------

With some delay because of the sudden urges of both sides to kiss each other they had finally arrived near the apartment complex which held the one belonging to Sakura Haruno. Carefully and without making much sound they moved up the stairs to a higher stage and stopped in front of her door. Sakura quickly made work of the lock upon her door by opening it with the key and stepping inside. Kiba followed her example and as soon as they were inside he slammed the door close and pushed Sakura against one of the nearby walls, caressing her face and arms while kissing her greedily.

"K-kiba-kun…" Sakura muttered, her breath heavy and filled with lust.

"H-hai?" his voice asked, giving the kunoichi some space and smirking down at her, wondering what was wrong.

"N-nothing… I just-"

"What?"

"I just thought there was something in here but it's nothing." The youngest student of Tsunade shrugged before glancing again in the direction of the living room and the bedroom. For a second she had felt another chakra there but it seemed to have vanished as soon as it had appeared. Perhaps she was just getting a bit too exited about all of this.

"O-okay."

"I-I'm sorry." She sighed softly and looked away from Kiba. She had spoiled the moment a bit by their interruption and hoped that this wouldn't annoy the Inuzuka heir.

"It's nothing." Kiba smiled and raised her head by holding her chin. But he was starting to grow worried over her. Perhaps it was the stress of her work which made her senses sense stuff which wasn't there.

"It smells rather frowsty in here." The owner of the apartment said to break the awkward silence. "I'll go and open a window in the bedroom." Even before Kiba could say something about it she had vanished from sight and went to her room.

Kiba frowned suddenly. He widened his eyes and gasped for a second before clutching his nose. "What ìs that?" his voice whined.

Sakura didn't even had the chance to open the windows. When she heard her new date yelp she returned immediately and laid a hand on his shoulder. "What? What's wrong?" a concerned look laid deep in those jade orbs.

"That stench! It isn't just musty! It smells like something burning!"

Now that he mentioned it and Sakura another deep breath took she also could sense a hint of scorch in the air. But she couldn't quite point from where it came. The most obvious room would be the kitchen but she didn't remember using anything what could burn before she went towards the date and they were in the kitchen and the scent was not coming from anywhere near here. "Where does it come from?"

The dog-ninja pointed out into the direction Sakura just had been to open the windows and she frowned because of that. The bedroom? That would be rather unlikely. But that didn't mean that it couldn't. She just had to investigate. "Wait here for a second. I'll see what is causing this." Again she left the shinobi and went towards the bedroom.

Once she opened the door she frowned. It was darker in here than she could remember but everything was like she had left it. The curtains closed, like she always did when she wasn't home or asleep.

Her hand moved towards the switch of the light but cursed inwardly when the light bulbs didn't answer to her action. This had to be a romantic evening and now it was completely ruined because of some burning smell. With caution she made her way over to the windows and opened the curtains along with the window itself to let some fresh air enter the compartment.

She slowly turned around and her eyes widened just as her breath which hitched by what she saw. A person… Or no, two persons were inside this room. One was sitting on the bed, his back facing her while another one was laying inside her bed, covers covering his face up.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Sakura asked since she could only see silhouettes. But even if this were friends she wouldn't be very lenient with their punishment. Breaking into her house was one thing but breaking into her house on an evening like this meant death.

"If this is some sort of-"

"You are rather talkative are you not?" a voice muttered in the room. She couldn't recognize it, hell she didn't even remember hearing such a soft yet cold voice that it gave her the shivers.

"W-who are you?" The anger had fallen from Sakura and had been replaced with caution and a bit of fright. Now that she realised it. This couldn't have been one of her friends. She would've recognised their chakra-signature or their silhouette.

"Am I correct in assuming that you are Sakura Haruno?" the voice whispered before he moved his head up. The medical kunoichi saw a glimpse of his face when looking in a big mirror which was in front of the intruder. She had only seen an eye. An eye which resembled the deepest pits of hell. With sclera as dark as a deep hole and an orange pupil which seemed to have a real fire burning within it. "Hmm? Sakura Haruno a medical kunoichi and the student of Tsunade, the Slug Sannin." The voice muttered, still waiting for an answer.

But she kept quiet. It wasn't until she heard another voice that she was shaken out of her daydream.

"Are you alright? What is taken you so long?" It was Kiba who became concerned and had faced the source of this smell for her. But then his nose told him where this scent was coming from. It just poured right off the person sitting on the bed. Immediately his eyes narrowed and he growled. "Who are you?"

The person just sighed and shook his head, making the long, white hair dance with the movement. "That is of no matter right now." The soft sound of a noteblock being closed was audible before the person stood straight. He wasn't nearly as impressive as he had been while sitting. It had been the uniform which he wore what had made him look more and bigger than he originally was.

What was even more. The he seemed to be a she. The woman standing in the room was only a few inches higher than Sakura but still being dwarfed by Kiba. Her visible arm and legs looked rather fragile. As if they'd break with the slightest touch. "He had said pink hair and green eyes." The flaming orbs of the stranger put themselves again upon the girl. Suddenly the woman removed the long sleeve of one of her arms and a bright source of light enlightened the dark room. "That would be you. I had actually hoped to find you alone in your home. I had not calculated upon you having company. I only brought one…"

Sakura frowned, not quite following what that woman was talking about before she gasped. Now she had a good look upon the woman and saw everything. The curly, white hair, her greyish skin colour, those eyes, her fragile body but all of that didn't caught her attention anymore. It was the piece of clothing which had tricked them from the start. It had been a cloak. The Akatsukicloak. But than there was that other thing. The source of light wasn't a lantern or a flashlight. It was the arm itself. Or arm… It was some sort of talon with a black colour. The hand had orange markings on it which seemed to be like a smothering piece of wood. And those were emitting the light.

"Akatsuki?" she whispered. She remembered the last time she encountered the Akatsuki. That had been Sasori, the master puppeteer which she had killed with the help of Chiyo-sama. "What do you want?"

"Are my intentions not clear yet? Are you stupid or did I caught you at a clouded moment? I do hope that it is the latter since I tend to dislike fools." That soft yet polite voice from the woman confused Sakura even more. "The fact that I have been asking for your name, that I am standing in your apartment and that I have written information about you, Sakura Haruno, must conclude that it is you what I want."

"What? What for!" both Sakura and Kiba asked.

The woman whipped her head up towards the boy and grinned softly. "I wish to take her with me."

"You want to kidnap Sakura? Not over my cold, dead body!" Kiba called out before running in front of Sakura. His eyes were still tearing because of the stench but luckily the open window did some good for him.

"Kidnap is such a big and mean word, is it not? And boy, just so you know. I am willingly to kill you to achieve this goal. If you stand in my way you will get killed. So I give you this chance to run out of this apartment, run towards the woman who had given birth to you, the guards or the Hokage herself I do not care. If you are not willing to take this chance I will have to kill you." The tone on which this woman was saying this was so cold yet she spoke it as if she did this every day. But this was Akatsuki they were talking about. Akasuna no Sasori would've killed his own grandmother without shedding a tear. So why would they stop for a complete and perfect stranger?

"I won't move! I'll kill you if you even touch her!" Kiba growled. He knew that his chances of winning were decreased rather drastically. At first he didn't have Akamaru who was a part of his technique, second he didn't know anything about this enemy or her pattern of attacks and third the scent which came from that burning arm was still bothering him.

"I have given you the chance to go home, boy. But you have not accepted my offer. From this point I have no other choice than to see you as my enemy, my opponent."

Kiba gently pushed Sakura back. "Go, leave and warn someone about this intruder." He whispered to her.

"K-kiba? No! You won't survive all by yourself. You don't even have Akamaru! You're not even armed!" Sakura mumbled impressed by the self sacrifice of Kiba. "This is an Akatsuki we're talking about! They are not even near the league of an A-ranked criminal!"

The dog-nin only grinned while not breaking eye-contact with his enemy. He had realised that he was still wearing his tuxedo and that he had forgotten to even bring a kunai or a shuriken but he still had his fists, feet, nails and teeth, that would be more than enough to fend this person off for a while.

"Draw your weapon. We shall settle this quickly." The woman said before revealing her second arm. This one was still normal before she made a seal with it. Suddenly it started to burn but the burnt flesh didn't just turn black. It also started to deform into another form. Long and sharp claws grew out of the fingers and various other spikes appeared upon her arm.

The lady sighed when Kiba didn't do as he was told and reached with her hand for her small ponytail which she held along her loose hair. The tail was being held with two kunai and both of them she pulled them out and tossed them in the direction of Kiba. But they hadn't been thrown with the intention of killing or even wounding him since they fell right in front of his feet. They had been given to him as a weapon.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Kiba asked, glaring suspiciously at the weapons as if they would turn into snakes and bite him any second or just explode.

"They are normal kunai I can ensure you. I am not someone who'd attack an unarmed opponent. That is beneath my status." She sighed, staring uninterested in the direction of Kiba.

"Kiba! Let me fight! I think that I can handle her!" Sakura said.

"With that dress?" the man growled before laughing softly. "I'm not going to let you ruin your precious dress and even if I'd let you your movements would be too restrained from the dress that you wouldn't make a chance."

The pinkette bit on her lower lip, he had a point. But still. He wasn't as strong as he was with Akamaru.

"Just stay back. I think I'm going to need you to heal me." He adverted his slit eyes towards the woman. "Are you mocking me? Do you think that I can't fight without weapons?"

"I am not mocking you, boy. But you do not seem to be the taijutsu-type and besides… Cuts bring more damage than punches." Uninterested the woman stared at her claw, seeing various spots lighten up with an orange light.

Kiba took this chance. He picked the kunai and lunged one into the direction of the person before leaping at her. She had her guard more than down, he had seen it. Just when his kunai had to collide with her face his eyes widened. His weapon just went right through her. Her face dissolved into greyish smoke but reformed soon afterwards again. As if she was a ghost.

But that wasn't the worst part. Sakura heard the gruel sound of piercing flesh and the scream of Kiba. Her own eyes widened and she stepped back slightly. Just what was this woman? She had sneaked into the village without getting noticed and could hide her chakra so well that even she couldn't sense it. She had those weird-looking claws which constantly burnt and now a non-solid body? She was an Akatsuki alright.

One of the talons of the Akatsuki laid itself upon the shoulder of Kiba while the other was buried within his gut. She pulled the boy closer with it. "You are a clever boy to take advantage out of an unguarded moment. But you must never suspect your enemy to be completely caught off-guard. I had my defences on when you captured me and that gave me the opportunity to get you with your guard down." She whispered in his ear. "Never let your guard down, no matter what you see."

Kiba groaned further in pain when she buried her claw even deeper within him but suddenly he grasped onto the woman's body and squirmed in pain against her restrain. The sickening smell of cooking flesh entered his nose. "W-what?" he muttered between two screams of pain.

"You did not notice? My claws are formed of the ashes of my own flesh. And since it is technically my own body I can enhance them with my elemental chakra's. Which are wind and fire, used to create ash. I used my wind-element to sharpen my claws and now I use the fire to make you burn from the inside out." She smiled and patted his shoulder with her free claw. "I had given you the chance to run away. You had to take it while you still could."

But just than the woman had to push Kiba off her and block the incoming attack with her own hand. The chakra-enhanced fist of Sakura collided with her claw but that wasn't the only thing. The amount of force the kunoichi had put into her attack were paying off. The intruder gasped out of pain and then out of surprise when she was pushed back and before she even knew it she ended up not so softly against the wall. Groaning in pain and frustration she rose to her feet and glanced at the arm which had taken the impact. Various long cracks were visible and some bits had even fallen off, showing the white of her bones.

"You, Sakura Haruno, are a filthy, backstabbing cockroach!" the woman hissed.

Sakura grinned. "You said it yourself. Don't get caught completely off guard!" she laughed before turning towards Kiba. She knelt down next to him and held her arm above his stomach. The damage he had taken was severe and if he didn't go to a hospital very soon he would most likely die.

"I have been patient with you, Miss Haruno but it is wearing thin. I was assigned to get into this horrible town, locate you and take you with me." The voice was no longer soft and cold but filled with anger and hate. "But since I am so kind I shall ask it to you as well. You can go still with me without a further fight or I shall have to beat you to an inch of your life and force you! Make your choice."

Sakura turned around and had a smirk upon her face. "I won't go with you! No matter what!" she called out. "I've just broken your little arm like a twig and next time I'll break your face!"

"So confident for such an inexperienced brat. It does not suit you, child." The woman sighed. "Your technique of fighting however is frightening. If you could master it you could become a fearsome enemy. I have rarely seen such inhumane strength and had not expected it to be in such a tiny child. You know well how to fight but that alone shall not be enough with me as your opponent. You rely on raw strength to accomplish your goals, the average Big Shinobi attitude." Sakura frowned. Alright, she was 18 years old but the woman in front of her couldn't possibly be older than 22 so the difference wasn't that big. Not so big that she could call her a brat just like that. And what was that talk about 'Big Shinobi?' Sakura decided to neglect it and go in for another round of knuckle sandwich. She moved out with high speed and brute force like she always did but just as she had to collide with her target this one dodged with an agile movement and reappeared right behind Sakura. Because of the momentum of her punch she didn't have the time to avoid the next attack or even turn around. The foot of her opponent found the small of her back and kicked her hard there, sending her flying in the direction of the mirror and her closet. With crashing sounds she finally stopped against the wall, panting heavily while being covered with small shards of the mirror. She softly plucked one out of her leg before healing it so she could move again.

The intruder on the other hand moved over towards Kiba and held him up with the collar of his suit. A soft jutsu was muttered. "Kasou no kakki." The whisper of the woman filled the room soon after various one-handed seals were made before the unexpected happened. Kiba suddenly caught fire at his feet.

Sakura's eyes widened. She immediately stood to her feet, trembling softly but moved out into the direction of the Akatsuki. Again she had to collide with the enemy but the same happened as with Kiba. Her hand just flew right through her. Her body had dissolved into that black smoke in the area she had punched but got quickly rearranged to the original body.

Sakura stared with wide eyes at Kiba who was groaning in pain even while being unconscious. But that wasn't the worst of all. The ashes which normally fell to the floor rose up and attached themselves upon the wounds of the orange-eyed woman, closing those.

"Stop it!" Sakura called out, nearly crying. She still had some energy to attack this woman but she was in the disadvantage.

That stranger could become immune to psychical attacks and that was the only kind of attack Sakura was specialised in and right now she had Kiba within those burning claws of her.

"Stop it! Don't kill him!"

"I shall make a deal. I feel kind-hearted today. If you come with me without making another scène I will let him live. If not…" That annoying, arrogant smirk around the lips of that woman was enough to make Sakura feel sick to her stomach. But she didn't have a choice. It was either let Kiba live or Kiba could die and either way she would be taken.

After an entire day of working in the hospital she had been drained of a lot of chakra and the time she had spend with Kiba, Ino and Choji had given her some of that chakra back but not everything. For that she had to have a good nights sleep and in this dress she was completely useless. Each movement she made it felt like she had a tail in stead of two legs and couldn't move around freely.

"Alright…" Sakura mumbled and let herself sink to her knees. She let her head hang but only peered through those pink bangs to see if her opponent was keeping her side of the deal.

With a thud Kiba fell to the floor, his feet and lower legs burnt severely but they could still heal with the help of Tsunade. The arm of the woman hadn't been healed that much but still some.

"Turn around and hold your hands upon your back, kunoichi." The cold voice said again. As soon as Sakura did what was asked she felt something clasp around both her wrists. She widened her eyes. It were some kind of cuffs but each time she struggled against it it consumed some of the chakra within her. She had never seen such a thing. Sure she knew cuffs and surely she knew Chakra-disturbing bracelets but not a combination of the two. Akatsuki must have some good connections.

"Kai." She heard her previous opponent mutter and slowly Sakura saw how the burned arms started to melt back into their original forms. But the wounded arm still had some nasty looking cuts and even parts where only the bones were visible. Even without looking at her face Sakura knew that it had to hurt, badly.

"So now I have the girl in my possession I have to move over to step two." She made her way over to the bed and uncovered what was lying underneath it.

"A- A dead body?" Sakura muttered when she saw the body of a young girl, about her age with pink hair.

"She was supposed to resemble you. But it seems that I have been careless about the appearance of my body. She has the same figure as you and the same hair colour but she does not resemble you any closer." She mumbled before making a gesture with her hand and raising two fingers in front of her face. A small fire lit above it. "But I don't think that they will make a fuss about it." She smirked and whipped her fingers in the direction of the bed, making the small ember fall upon it and the sheets immediately caught fire.

"W-what are you going to do?" Sakura called out. "What about Kiba?"

"Shut up." In a flash the woman had vanished and reappeared right next to Sakura. "I have no time for trivial words coming from your direction. From this point on your opinions are ignored and are of no matter. Not to me, not to the ones appointing me to this mission… Not even to yourself. You will die this night."

"Wh-what?" Sakura muttered but before she could even say another thing the hand of her opponent had struck a pressure point in her neck and knock her unconscious.

"This should make her shut up." The woman hissed before letting the girl fall to the floor. She moved over to the boy and looked down at him. "This shall prove difficult. But I just will have to put some more effort in it than I had hoped. This is not a part of the goal I have in mind but she wished it so I shall grant her that one wish."

Quickly she squatted down and pulled the boy over her shoulders before looking back. The fire inside the room was becoming wide and out of control. The bed had been almost turned to crisp and now the environment had to be next. Within the hour the entire room of Sakura Haruno would vanish and turn into dust and ashes.

Slowly she made her way over to the other unconscious body and lifted it up upon her other shoulder. It was heavy, that was for sure.

"Curse him and his freaking abilities. I do not like being played around like a puppet but in his hands there is little one can do." She cursed before jumping out of the window and standing upon the ground underneath. The fire was blazing now and soon there wouldn't be a stop to it. Right outside she dropped the boy not too mercifully to the floor and shifted the body of Sakura upon her shoulders but she didn't leap off immediately. She turned her head slightly back to catch a glimpse of the situation.

A soft smirk stood upon her lips as she heard the fire crackle behind her and various people who woke because of the scent of a devastating burning. Her work here was done. She had the girl and there would be no direct leads pointing to the organisation. It would all seem to be an accident.

"Splendid." Her voice whispered through the air before she vanished.

--------------------------------------------

Feet ran at astonishing speed in the direction of the Hokage's Tower. She had to know of this matter because… It was someone of her village and more importantly… Her own student. Both the ANBU sighed as they leapt over the roofs before entering the Tower where they made their ways to the room of Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama!" they cried out. "Hokage-sama!" It was considered rude beyond anything to just open the door and bust in. Especially since this was the room of a woman.

They heard soft muttering behind the door but nothing which could tell them of the leader of the village was awake or not. Again they called out.

"What is it?" the sleep-drunk voice of the woman mumbled.

"Emergency, Hokage-sama. District 15 has caught fire."

"Put it out already…" the door slid open and there she stood, the blonde beauty draped in a robe and clearly annoyed because of the interruption of her sleep.

"They are trying but the fire is persistent. And… the fire started in apartment 24"

The amber-coloured eyes of the lady widened and she gasped. "Sakura…" she whispered. "Is she alright?"

"We don't know yet. Nobody has been able to enter the building because of the fire. But we did found something else. Kiba Inuzuka laid at the back of the complex, he has severe injuries and is being taken care of by medics at the scene. He will arrive sonly." One of the ANBU said.

Tsunade nodded in understanding before she slowly exited the office. "Inform Kakashi, Yamato and Sai of this matter. I do think that they want to be informed." She muttered.

"And for Naruto-san?"

"Let it be for a while. Not until we know everything. He can't be disturbed during his training for something which might be no big deal. It hasn't been confirmed yet that she was even at home during the fire." The female sannin concluded. "I'll get ready for when Kiba comes."

With those words both the Anbu had vanished from sight again.

This didn't feel good according to Tsunade. She had a feeling that there was no way that it just could be a fire. Sakura wouldn't just get caught in a normal fire, would she? Softly the Hokage cursed but rushed out of her room, getting ready for the inspection upon the young Inuzuka-heir.

---------------------------------------------

Some place else, not even near the Village Hidden in the Leaves there stood a rather big statue inside of a rather big cave.. A statue which resembled the face of some kind of nine-eyed demon who held two hands up in the air. Each of the fingers were occupied by a person standing on top of it. Or actually some sort of static silhouette. Various types of eyes glared around in the room since there were only two persons who were real. The rest were not psychically at the scene.

A man who was perfectly split in half by a black and a white skin colour and whose head was encased with a Venus Flytrap and a female. The same female who had captured Sakura Haruno, Shinkan.

But there were two other people present at the scene. One laying in the middle of the two hands and the head and the other laid tied up against one of the arm. The body in the middle was that of a very large man who was wearing a shiny, red armour. But he wouldn't open his brown eyes anymore to look around. His Biyuu had just been extracted out of him and therefore was dead. The chance of an elder coming to this Iwa-ninja's help were rather slim if not nonexistent.

The other person had short, pink hair and was still dressed in the dress she had been wearing the previous day and was still unconscious.

"Good." A static voice spoke up, coming from the right thumb. The grey rinnegan eyes opened and glared around, eyeing every member of the dangerous organisation known as Akatsuki.

"Now that that's done what's the girl doing here?" another voice asked. The piercing, silvery eyes of Kisame glared down towards the unconscious form laying against the huge, stone wrist. "I don't remember her being a tailed beast. Or am I wrong?"

"Indeed you are wrong, Kisame Hoshigaki." The rather annoyed voice of Shinkan spoke up towards the man.

"What's the matter, Shinkan. What's with the attitude?" he asked with a audible amusement in his voice. "You sound like you've got a stick up your ass."

"She was born with it." Hidan threw his voice in before his violet eyes glanced into the direction of the woman who just gave him a cold glare in return.

"I am not amused by your sad attempts of insulting me." She retorted before looking down upon the girl and snorting in irritation.

The Leader spoke up again. "This girl is going to help us in getting the the Nine-tailed fox. As we all know this demon has been putting up quite a fight. Two attempts were made of capturing him and both had failed…" His voice had lowered slightly before looking in the direction of the Sharingan-wielder and then the personal bomber of Akatsuki. Both of them showed no emotions in their eyes.. "Now we have to use other methods to get to the Kyuubi. But for over a year he has been in the protection of the Toad-Sannin and when he is not he is in the protection of his village. We can't interfere with these defences for various reasons but we can separate them, using his character. The Jinchuuriki who contains the Nine-tails is a hothead. He doesn't think before he fights and we will take advantage out of that." The leader silenced since he thought that that would be more than enough information.

"What? How is this fucking bitch going to get us any closer to that jinchuuriki?" Hidan asked who was clearly confused.

"I might have a stick up my ass but at least I am in the possession of a decent brain." Shinkan sighed before rolling with her eyes. She heard the insults being thrown at her head and ignored them before glancing in the direction of the silhouette with the cold, violet eyes. "Sakura Haruno is the teammate and thus friend of the nine-tails Jinchuuriki. Deidara witnessed the kid nearly going out of his mind with the new of the One-tailed, also a friend, being dead. When he receives the news of his friend being in the possession of akatsuki and thus being in severe danger he will most likely burst out, track us down and try to rescue her. We will be ready with a team to capture him and make sure that it doesn't go wrong this time."

"Hmn, I'm actually surprised that you were able to capture her. She was the person who killed Sasori no danna after all, yeah." The blue-eyed silhouette said, not looking at his other feminine member but at the unconscious girl on the floor. "And you only got your hand wounded."

Shinkan made an annoyed sound before looking away, suddenly being interested in the walls of this cave. He wasn't right. It had been pure luck that she was fairly unharmed. The boy hadn't been that strong and if she hadn't used him later as a threat the woman would've experienced more problems. And even with those factors she had a rather mutilated arm. But she wasn't about to tell that.

"For now Shinkan is in charge of the hostage. I am sending two teams towards her to ensure our success." Leader spoke up again, making everybody silence. "Deidara and Tobi are send along with Kakuzu and Hidan."

"What? Why do I have to go with that she-male and that idiot!" Hidan called out. "As if that bitch and the greedy bastard weren't a big enough pain in the ass!"

"Look who's speaking." Kakuzu muttered. "You're the biggest idiot of all here."

"Shut up, you atheist bastard! Go and choke on a cock!"

"It isn't like I'm going to enjoy working along with a peabrain priest and a greedy bastard who's got even a bigger stick up his ass than Shinkan, hmm."

"Shut up, you fucking hermaphrodite!"

"That's enough!" Leader mumbled, making everybody calm down again. "Everybody except for the assigned teams are dismissed… Zetsu? Take care of the body."

He got four agreeing nods before Itachi, Kisame and the silent Konan vanished from sight. Zetsu hopped off the fingers and moved in the direction of the deceased Jinchuuriki and dragged it away, eating it somewhere out of sight of the other members.

"Deidara, Tobi, Kakuzu and Hidan? We shall meet again in the Geyser Country. Near Aasugakure." Shinkan spoke up. "Once you enter the Geyser Country search for Nijimaru, Dasshimen or Kuukiire. They'll bring you to my precise location without much efforts. I'll be there within two days. I will expect you in the coming week."

"Wasn't that your previous village?" Kakuzu asked the woman.

He only got a bit of a smirk out of her as reaction before she tilted her head. "I do not see the problem with that. You just make sure that you arrive on the scene on time. Do not make me wait."

They all nodded curtly. When they realised that the woman wasn't going to give more information they all vanished again. Soon after Pein did the same and left Zetsu, Sakura and Shinkan alone.

Shinkan quickly jumped off her finger as well and moved into the direction of Sakura. She knelt down beside her and felt the pulse in her neck. After three days she was still unconscious, with the help of Zetsu of course who had given her some sort of potion to keep her asleep. But now she was slightly concerned over the girl. Not because of the girl herself but if she was to die before they had that Naruto-guy she would get killed as well.

"Zetsu." Her voice said sternly. From the corner of her eyes she already saw the big plant-man appearing inside the cave. "Could you give her something to keep her asleep for one more day and something to make sure she doesn't die of dehydration and starvation?"

"Sure." The white side said with a smile.

"But it will be at a cost…"

"Don't be so lame… She's doing this for the organisation."

Shinkan merely shrugged and stood straight again, heading towards the exit of the cave and just looked towards the skies. "Curse this. It's going to rain soon. I must get there before it starts…" her soft voice mumbled as her gaze moved again into the cave. Her fiery orbs glancing at Zetsu who moved near the hostage.

"Alright then…" he whispered as he knelt down in front of Sakura and muttered some soft words. "It's going to rain, isn't it?" his black side mocked. "I'm looking forward to it and you?"

"That is enough, Zetsu-san." She growled, crossing her arms in front of her chest. Her face made it clear that she didn't like this mockery. "Say another word and I'll see if plants really are that flammable as they say."

"There, she'll sleep for another day or two."

"Tssk, sleeping for five days in a row seems like a dream to me." The white-haired woman snorted who suddenly stood right next to Zetsu.

It made the black and white man look up. "You should try and stop sneaking up behind your allies. Not everybody enjoys this."

She ignored the comment and knelt down to pick the girl up and tossed her upon her back not too gently. "I am going now. I must reach my destination before the rain starts. Or else things will get messy."

"Good luck, Shinkan-chan." Zetsu's 'kind' side smiled and gave her a short wave but he saw that the woman had already vanished from the scene.

"I wonder why Leader-sama trusted her with the child." He muttered to his other side.

"He didn't had much of another choice. Someone had to get into the village without making a big scene and with that shield around it only Itachi and her were the possibilities."

"But she's about as stable as a three-legged chair… Isn't she going to kill the girl when she's going to ask annoying questions."

"That girl is now part of Shinkans bigger goal. She won't be in any danger as long as she is necessary to achieve our goal and thus hers. But that doesn't mean that Shinkan is going to give that poor girl a pleasant time. Sucks to be her hostage, I can say." The black side grinned before he sunk into the floor again, probably reappearing somewhere else to hunt something down.

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_A/N__: I'm sorry for the crappy chapter. I hope you don't mind :3 _


	3. Everything is new

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein, ShikaTema

_Mentioned:_ SakuKiba

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

Thanks: Bellacullen3, SandSibs5, Kon Bubble Blaster, Alley7744, DevilishCats, Siffel and others for the reviews, I really appreciate them and they make me wanna write a new chapter and (how cliché it may seem) inspire me.

If you have any comments or suggestions I really want to hear them.

**-------------------- Chapter Three --------------------**

_Everything is new…_

A heavy wave of agony hit her once her senses started to return. Her entire body was engulfed in a faint yet unbearable pain. All of her muscles were stiff and she wondered if she could even stand up to walk. But the most venomous pain of them all was weird enough a small sting in her upper arm. She had been injected with something, that was for sure. She just needed to figure out what and why.

While her jade eyes were still closed she frowned slightly at the sound of other signs of activity around here. There was the surprisingly calming sound of coins ticking against each other along with the rustling of paper. Besides those noises the only thing she could hear was the rhythmic breathing around her. She definitely wasn't alone.

She felt pain as she wanted to move her muscles and get rid of the strain on them but she knew that if she did so she'd blow her cover of being 'asleep'.

"Oi, bitch!" someone's voice broke the silence. "Bitch! OI! OI! Talk to me when I'm calling for ya!"

"Hidan, would you please remain calm. She has just been injected with the serum. She won't wake up for another hour. So shouting at that little tramp will change nothing to the current situation." Came that quiet, polite voice of the woman who had taken her from her hometown.

"Who said that I was talking to her. I was shouting for you, retarded whore." The reply of the Jashinist came. Sakura wouldn't be surprised if he had a smug expression on his face. She could only wonder why he'd call his ally with such degrading names.

"How charming. I should've guessed." Shinkan merely sighed. "I guess that I had overestimated you once more. Then why were you shouting for me?"

"When are that idiot and that she-male coming? I wanna move from this pathetic wasteland. And I certainly wanna get away from you two cock-sucking tight-asses." He barked.

"Hidan!" a muffled but strict and dangerous voice sounded suddenly. "Shut up. I swear, as soon as my schedule opens up I'm going to kill you… both!"

"Tssk, like you could pull it off, Kakuzu?" Hidan muttered at his partner.

Slowly Sakura opened her eyes and looked around in the room. She had to swallow a surprised gasp at the sight of a person standing so very close to her. At first she thought that it was the female Akatsuki since she saw how the head was richly encased with heavenly white locks but it wasn't. The hair was more of a white-blonde while the other woman had a more greyish tint to her hair. This face was different. A pair of grey eyes directly stared into her own but the face which owned them wasn't old, she wouldn't be surprised if the person standing right in front of her was actually younger than she was.

"Nee-sama?" those small lips moved before the kid pulled its face away to face whoever was standing behind her.

Now that the young child didn't obscure her sight anymore the hostage of Akatsuki could look around. She could count three other people inside, aside herself and the young girl.

At the large, wooden table in the middle of the room two persons sat. One had a tanned skin and his mouth and hair were obscured with masks. But she only needed to see his eyes to know that he wasn't normal. Red sclera, like blood and bright green eyes. Those eyes didn't even look at her and she already froze from the cold and aggressive expression. He was busy counting money at the head of the table.

A few chairs away from him another man hung bored on his chair. One hand just laid over the back of the chair while the other held a curious-looking weapon. A red, three-bladed scythe. But unlike the other two akatsuki he wore his uniform different, he had it more open and showed a lot of his toned chest. Again this one had strange eyes. A cold shade of lavender and currently were locked upon the eldest woman in the room.

Sakura's own eyes narrowed as she stared at the being she hated the most in this world, aside from Orochimaru of course but this woman definitely came close to that.

The woman was leaning against the wall and a bit of pride and a mean streak of sadism appeared in Sakura's body as she saw the bandaged arm of the woman. It felt good to know that she hadn't been taken without putting up quite a fight. The lips of the elder woman moved as her fiery, orange gaze rested upon the smaller white head. "What is it, Dasshimen?" her voice asked. Polite, cold and calm like always.

"Oh fuck, now the little hooker suddenly found its speech back." The bored man yawned while glaring at the small kid who flinched at his mere glance.

"Hidan! I shall not warn you again. Dasshimen is not a hooker nor is she anything else in that lowlife vocabulary of yours. If you even dare to call her that way again I shall let my fire feast upon your bones." The cold voice was so frightening that even the small child in front of her shrunk at it. "And do not think that my threats will continue to be empty. If you trigger my anger you shall not enjoy its results. I will see with my very own eyes to what extend this 'gift' of your deity goes. I highly doubt it is all that effective if one compares it to my own talents."

"Che! Talents? Your only talent is whining and cocksucking. So… Try your worst." Hidan had a victorious smirk upon his face as he rose from his chair and stepped over to the in comparison small and fragile woman. He looked as if he could snap her neck with one hand. His eyes roamed over her like a predator would do to his prey. His vicious looking face only widened its grin as he saw how the woman took a step back, leaning as far into the wall as possible.

"You think that you are a match for me, Hidan?" her stern voice asked without any audible signs of fright in it.

"I think so. You're the one stepping back for me. You're smart to do that." Hidan commented and saw the woman curl her upper lip in a snarl. Shinkans fist twitched several times. How she wanted to unleash her 'talent' upon that being in front of her. She could already feel his blood dripping from the tips of her fingers when she'd scratch his eyes out with her nails.

Hidan only kept pushing it further and further. He leant closer into the smaller form of his colleague until his hand rested on the wall right beside her head. The scraping of metal over concrete was audible as he pulled his scythe closer to her body, ready to slash her throat any minute now.

"Idiots!" the third man, Kakuzu, suddenly broke the tension between the other two Akatsuki. "Stop fighting each other. The hostage is awake."

"Thank you, Kakuzu-no-danna." Dasshimen said with a slight smile before bowing towards the man who didn't even acknowledged her existence.

"'Bout fucking time." Hidan mumbled and roughly pulled himself away from Shinkan to take his seat again upon his chair. He kept his wide smirk upon his face as he saw his potential victim sigh in relief and close her eyes for a split second.

"I must say that you have surprised me by waking up this quickly, Sakura. I had expected you to remain in your slumber for a bit longer. But it seems that your body is in top condition. I should have expected more from the personal student of Tsunade-hime." She heard that voice of the woman with eyes similar to the pits of hell.

"Get to the point, Shinkan." Kakuzu's voice threatened as he rose from the table but not to wound the woman or try to impose her but to put his money back in his case before he was going to put it away, safely.

"All in due time, Kakuzu. I think it would be appropriate to wait for Deidara and Tobi. They are a part of this matter as much as we are and I see no use in explaining the situation twice." A bit of a smile stood upon her lips. "Besides the little tramp just has awoken and her mind will not function properly yet. It should be more humanly to give her some time to order things in her mind before we are going to push her head first into the facts of our operation."

"Perhaps…"

"Dasshimen, please escort that tramp to her room." Shinkan commanded. "If I am to bring her to that place it will be likely that she will not arrive in one piece." A grudge was what that woman still had left in her mind. She slowly rose her bandaged arm to her face and the cloth caught fire soon enough. As the bandage was completely burn to ashes the arm was visible again. The little sister of the feminine Akatsuki gasped as she saw what had happened. Her entire lower arm had a purple-bluish colour from the bruises and various long, nasty looking cuts were visible. It was one giant mess.

"Nee-sama! Let me heal that wound! It is not clean and will infect if you don't let someone look at it." The young girl said in horror and took a step in the direction of Shinkan.

"Dasshimen!" her strict voice sounded again. "Keep to your orders. I will live through it. Bring the girl to her room, serve her some food and water but do not speak to her. Understood?"

The little girl stopped in her tracks and bend her head down, glaring at the floor and nodding slightly.

"Understood? Confirm my order, Dasshimen!"

"Hai, Nee-sama. I am to bring the girl to her room without any conversation, to bring her food and water and nothing else." Her voice was soft and weak. It was clear that she didn't like this but she had to live under the authority of her sister.

"Tssk, Shinkan. Give yer sister a break. Yea, she's a little, pathetic pain in the ass indeed but that's no reason to bark at her like you did. She did nothing wrong." Hidan said as he leant into his chair, balancing it upon its hindlegs.

"Shut up, Hidan. This is of no matter to you and don't let it become your matter. You shall regret it with your life." Her dark voice muttered again before the woman turned around and left the room, the fabric of her cloak was still visible for a second before that also vanished out of sight.

"What the hell? Where is that bitch going now?" Hidan asked as he rose one of his silvery eyebrows.

"Nee-sama is probably going to check upon Kuukiire. He has strayed from home to find those other two Akatsuki-members and it is possible that he got lost." The young girl whispered before turning around to look at the pinkette in front of her. "I am sorry, girl. Please follow me to your room." She sighed and walked past the 18-year old to unclasp the handcuffs.

Sakura just sat there, astonished of what just had happened. Akatsuki was even more horrible than she would've ever imagined.

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The news of the unfortunate event had made its way through the entire village of Konoha. How the youngest student of the hokage had been killed during a devastating fire. Even as it hadn't been confirmed yet.

Almost a week ago the events had taken place and the results were as good as nothing. The ANBU hadn't found any curious things in the apartment which could've led to the outbreak of such a sea of fire except for the injuries of Kiba and the fact that he had been laying right behind the complex.

But he was still unconscious so contacting him was not an option right now.

In the office of the Hokage an unpleasant silence had began since the hokage and her little helper both knew Sakura very well and were very close to her.

The amber eyes of Tsunade had lost their spark while Shizune only spoke when spoken to or when she didn't have another choice. It had been so unexpected. They had all thought that Sakura would live for many years still since she was an excellent medic and she was as strong as it could be.

"Shizune?" Tsunade's hoarse voice spoke up before eyeing the younger woman.

"What is it, Tsunade-sama?"

"Have you filled in the reports?" The lady shook her head and the leader of Konohagakure just nodded in understanding. "I'll go and check on Kiba. Tell me when Kakashi and the rest is here."

It would be the thing that she did quite a few times a day, more than with other patients. She just couldn't wait until the dog master would wake and tell them what exactly had happened there. If he even knew a thing.

But there was another reason why she'd visit the young boy other than just a medical check-up and seeing if he had awoken. That was because she felt Sakura's presence when she was in the room with Kiba. How odd it might've seemed.

Tsunade had lost many close friends and relatives through out the years. Like her little brother or her lover but this time wasn't going to be easier. Sakura had been like a daughter to her, an adoptive daughter, just like Shizune actually. And no mother should feel the pain of losing her child.

Slowly her one arm started to slide up and down her other in an attempt to sooth her but it was unsuccessful. In her mind she still wondered how she'd explain the situation to Kakashi, Tenzou and Sai, her three teammates who were still present in Konoha. They had asked of her if it was able to see Sakura one last time before she was going to be buried. Tsunade had wanted to refuse but it hadn't been so easy. She didn't want to take the last opportunity away for the people closest to her yet in the back of her head a voice whined of how horrible her student looked right now.

She had been burned beyond recognition. Her skin was no longer pale as peach and her bubblegum coloured strands had been lost during the event. Even the mental image of the corpse brought tears to her eyes.

Quickly she got rid of the thoughts and moved her attention back upon Kiba who laid there in the bed. His minor injuries had healed without leaving a mark but it was that weird gash in his abdomen-area that she worried about. It was as if someone had plunged something sharp yet incredibly hot in his body and almost cooked his intestines from the inside out. No matter how long the blonde beauty thought about it. She had no idea of what might cause that.

"Tsunade-sama?" the voice of her apprentice brought her out of her cycle of thoughts. "They have arrived. Would you take them along with you or should I just go with them?"

"No, it's alright. I'll go with them, Shizune."

Both the females left the room of the patient to go to the investigation rooms. More specifically the autopsy room. That was where they had left Sakura's body before she was going to be buried.

They stopped right in front of the door and the amber eyes of Tsunade held pain in them. She waved for the three others who were standing near to get closer to her.. "I must warn you that this isn't a pleasant sight." She said with a quivering voice.

"Hai, Hokage-sama." The sound of Kakashi's voice was sad. He entered the room and glanced towards the covered person in the middle of the it. Tenzou and Sai entered soon after.

Shizune stepped towards the bed and softly pulled the covers off. She heard the pitched gasps of everybody in the room but ignored them. Fresh tears started to burn behind her eyes and the kunoichi quickly covered her eyes with one hand. She didn't want to look at the mutilated body of her friend again. She had seen it long enough when she had to investigate it.

Kakashi's uncovered eye widened when he saw the body of his previous student. Her once peach coloured skin had been turned to a black crisp by that unmerciful fire. The Copy-nin would've held his hand in front of his mouth if it hadn't been covered with a mask.

"S-sakura?" he asked. He felt the hand of the Hokage resting upon his shoulder and softly pat him there.

"Are you sure that it is her? " Tenzou asked, looking in the direction of the older woman. She only nodded sadly.

"We have no other choice than assume that. Most of the ways we have to recognize deceased ones are unsuccessful upon her remains. The fire was devastating. Our last resort might be Kiba. It seems that he was able to flee through an open window." Tsunade said.

"He might've started the fire." Sai suddenly interrupted.

"No, Kiba wouldn't do such a thing. Why would he do it anyway?"

"It was suspicious that he laid right behind the apartment with an open window and burnings around his stomach and lower legs." The artist said. "I'm not saying that it was on purpose. He could've started it by accident…"

"We can't deny that but still… We should give him the benefit of the doubt before we start to conclude things." Kakashi mumbled before he glanced back at the body of the kunoichi who was on his team. He felt limp right now. He couldn't grasp it. Every team was still intact. Team Asuma, Team Kurenai, Team Gai and so on but his… It was as if there was a curse upon Team Seven. First Sasuke who vanished. Then Naruto who had been taken by the Toad Sannin since he was threatened by Akatsuki and now Sakura had been taken from him. For ever. She had died in a fire. Naruto would eventually return to him, Sasuke also still had a chance to return but there wasn't any hope left for her. It saddened him on more than one level.

Tenzou and Sai were also affected by this sad loss, Sai didn't show it as much as the other two males since he still had to discover this emotion. But also Kakashi and Tenzou kept strong. They only had a sad look in their eyes but there were no tears. They were ninja and things like this happened all the time. Deaths on missions but even in the daily life. But no matter how many times things like this would happen nobody would grow immune to them. It still was someone who you liked, trusted and even loved who'd leave the world to never ever return.

"Does Naruto know already?" Tenzou's voice spoke up, it was slightly cracked because of the news he had received.

Both the women shook their heads. "I don't know how to bring it to him so that he won't lose his mind." Tsunade said, embracing herself. "His training with Jiraiya was not to be interrupted. Naruto has to become stronger since Akatsuki is also getting stronger. They may have kept a low profile for a couple of years but they surely aren't extinguished yet." The woman silenced for a second before looking towards one of the walls. "Besides we don't know where he is right now. Jiraiya didn't want to tell me to avoid any interruptions caused by Akatsuki."

The three jounin nodded briefly before Kakashi moved closer towards the body of Sakura. Tenzou and Sai knew why the man was doing this. He of all the men inside this room knew her the best. Tenzou and Sai had only been temporary replacements for Kakashi and Sasuke but Kakashi was the man who had learned her most of the things, aside from medical ninjutsu, since she was a genin. He had always been proud of her intelligence, the fact that she could learn so quickly and had grown into a powerful young lady.

"Sakura…" he mumbled and glanced down upon the body.

"Leave us for a moment." Tsunade said before glancing at the two men and the other woman. They all understood and vanished out of the room. The Slug-girl moved over towards Kakashi and stood right next to him, also looking down upon the body which had to be Sakura.

"I think this was very unexpected." He mumbled. "I never thought to lose her, and especially not on a way like this. I had promised her on our very first meeting that I wouldn't let my friends die… "

"Nobody had seen this coming, Kakashi. Don't feel responsible." Again she laid her hand upon his shoulder and squeezed it gently, just to make him know that she was there for him.

"Do we have any idea how this could've happened?" the copy-nin asked.

Sadly the blonde beauty shook her head. "There are no leads at all. The fire started in the bedroom and she must've been caught by the smoke while she was sleeping. And if there has been a lead it has been destroyed by the fire. It was already a miracle that her body wasn't turned into ashes completely."

Just as the man with the mismatched eyes wanted to say something the door got busted open and a medic stormed in. A worried look laid upon his face.

"What is it?" Tsunade asked as she turned around.

"Kiba Inuzuka… He's awake." The medic announced. "He still feels rather clouded but we think he's able to give us some answers."

A faint suggestion of a smile appeared around the kunoichi's lips as she heard the news. Perhaps Sakura's death wouldn't become a mystery.

--------------------------------------------

It had been just like Sakura had predicted it. Her cuffs had been undone by the young girl but even without those chakra-disturbing cuffs she couldn't do much. It had been too long since she had walked on her own to just jump up and kick the hell out of everybody. Besides the chance of her winning a fight against three of those criminals was inexistent. She had barely survived the last 'real' encounter against an Akatsuki, which had been Sasori. If it had not been for Chiyo's unique ability she would've died back there.

A shiver crawled up her spine by the mere thought.

"Haruno-sama?" the kind voice of the child woke her from her daydream. She cast her light green eyes upon the girl with her grey ones and blinked a few times. It was just then that she realised that the girl had asked her a question.

"What?" she muttered a bit confused.

"Are you feeling alright? I can see that your muscles are all sore. If you want I can give you something that helps against the pain." A forced smile stood upon her lips as she stared at the pinkette.

Sakura couldn't grasp it. This young, kind girl was the sister of that deranged bitch that had dragged her out of her hometown? It was almost surreal. The difference in character was like day and night… And not only character. Shinkan was ghostly pale while Dasshimen had more of a tanned colour and those eyes of her were kind and filled with concern over other peoples well-being. Actually the only thing they had in common was that they both had hair that had a white shade to it.

"I-I thought you weren't permitted to talk to me." She choked out in pain. If only she had her own chakra back than she could heal these wounds in no time.

"Nee-sama isn't here and those men won't even bother to come and check for us. They've put up chakra-sensors around the house to see where you are. So if you are a bit too near the borders they'll come and stop you. I'm just giving you the heads up."

"Thanks, I guess." Sakura sighed and stared at the wall, thinking about everything that had happened up 'till now. "How long has it been? How long have I been asleep?"

"Nee-sama says that you were asleep for a week or perhaps a day more." The little girl mumbled as she had taken refuge in a corner of the room, standing in front of a table which held some pots and various other items Sakura couldn't see. She moved her eyes over the rest of the room. It was quite a large one, larger than her entire apartment and a soft bed on which she sat right now. The print on the sheets, which were blue, childish clouds, was a bit wrong but for the purpose of sleeping it was perfect. Nice and soft.

Other than that one table and the bed there wasn't much furniture. Only another small closet that had to serve as a nightstand.

The young medic looked again up from the sound of something being put on that nightstand. She saw Dasshimen again who had put a cup of noodles there along with some chopsticks and gestured towards it. "You may eat if you like. In the meantime I'll take a look at your wounds and painful spots… If you want it that is."

"Y-you're a medic?"

"Kind of… I never got real lessons but I thought myself by experimenting. I'd completely understand if you don't trust me and don't want me to heal you."

A smile appeared upon the lips of the eldest girl. She couldn't help but like this little girl. She was so timid, shy and concerned about everybody. It was a shame that she had to grow up with those people as her example. If she lived in Konoha Village Sakura knew she'd get along great with her own friends and probably would've taken her under her wings and teach her the medical ninjutsu.

"No, that's alright. I'll help you." The kunoichi of Team 7 decided to keep the girl friendly. Afterall making enemies with everybody wouldn't help her much. If she was kidnapped, for whatever reason, she might as well have some bright point in her life.

When the girl's eyes widened and started to twinkle with surprise and gratitude Sakura giggled. "Really? You wanna give me some tips. I already heard you are a top-student of Tsunade-sama. You must be a genius! But please, don't do that if you don't want to. I don't want to force you into doing anything."

"It's no problem." Sakura muttered and patted the seat next to her upon the bed. "Besides I should be thanking you for wanting to heal me. You could have easily just brought me here, kicked me inside and just slammed the door right behind you to leave me in my pain."

"Oh no! That's not how I'd do those things. That's just cruel." The girl mumbled with wide eyes and adverted them to the floor. "That's more their style. I find it barbaric. Nee-sama can say that her way is sophisticated and socially-accepted but I don't believe her. She's cruel and primitive when she kills someone. She frightens me when she is killing someone."

Sakura saw the eyes of the small child and sighed softly. She could see that this young girl was speaking out of experience. She had seen how her sister killed people right in front of her eyes. "It's alright. It's ok. Easy now." She soothed the small girl and placed carefully an arm around her shoulders, rubbing it softly.

"I-I-I was afraid that she'd kill you when she showed up again." Dasshimen started to cry and leant into Sakura's body, sobbing slightly. "I-It reminded me of the past. I want my old sister back."

Sakura frowned for a second at the cries of her new friend but decided to let them be. This girl had enough problems as it was and didn't need to be reminded by her questions. Her second arm embraced the girl and hugged her to her chest, hushing her with a soothing voice.

The healing could wait a bit longer. As long as the pinkette didn't need to move around she was alright.

-----------------------------------------------

Across the border of the Geyser country and the Waterfall Country two persons were walking on a dirt road. Both their bodies wrapped in the standard black cloaks with printed red clouds upon them.

All of a sudden one rushed in front of the other and stared at the latter as if he was looking at a freakshow.

"Sempaai?" the almost sing-song voice started.

"What is it, Tobi?" the other's voice didn't sound amused in the slightest.

"Why don't we use one of your birdythingies to fly to the destination? I'm exhausted and Tobi's hungry." The person waved with his arms as if he had some sort of mental malfunction, which would probably be the case.

"Idiot, hn. My art isn't some sort of vehicle! Besides we have to keep a low profile around and can't afford to draw attention, yeah."

"But sempaaai!" the man with his face covered by an orange mask started to jump around. "My feet will collapse any minute now!"

"You mean your legs?" A blonde eyebrow rose at that statement. "Besides you don't look exhausted since you can still jump around like a small kid. Would you keep it down? We're Akatsuki. We're cool and preserved people. We don't skip like little school girls!"

"Sempai knows what Tobi means!" If Tobi's face had been shown he would be blinking like a kicked puppy. "But skipping is fun. Tobi likes to skip!"

Deidara rolled with his blue eyes and decided to ignore the masked nin before an 'accident' would happen and end in the explosion of the hyperactive man. Each day he was wondering just where they had found this man? It wouldn't surprise them if it had been near a mental institute. Or that a village was missing their idiot.

"Sempaaai!" that squeaky voice send the bombing artist shivers up his spine. "Why don't you make a mushy thing to fly us there."

"Weren't you listening, hn?" Deidara said angrily before he realised something else. Had Tobi just called his art a mushy thing? Was he asking to get killed? "Tobi, my art is not a mushy thing! My art is a fleeting moment and is not a mushy thing!"

"But your birdies are all mushy! Oh! OH! OOOH!" The masked man (or rather boy) started to squeal when he saw something from the one hole in his mask.

"What is it now, Tobi?"

"Tobi sees a hole!"

Deidara looked in the direction of where Tobi was looking and saw how the rich environment from the Waterfall Country was deforming into the dry landscape from the Geyser Country which only consisted out of rock with an occasional crater. Before the blue eyed man could even say something the playful man had dashed towards the crater and stuck his head above it.

"Un, Tobi? I wouldn't do tha-" The personal bomber of Akatsuki rolled with his eyes when he saw how the geyser spouted some of the hot air and caught Tobi in it, pushing him up in the air. "Why me?" he muttered defeated and stared up in the air where his partner was currently in. With a bit of luck he'd die and Deidara would be assigned to another partner. The strong blast of hot steam abruptly ended and along with it the pressure vanished which made Tobi fall. He screamed as he fell through the hole into a black pit.

Faintly Deidara could hear the 'thud' as Tobi had found the floor of the hole.

Suddenly he whipped his head around since he had felt another chakra signature enter his senses and pushed one of his hands into the clay pouches on his sides.

"Yo." He was met by a kid, he couldn't be any older than 13 but he had an attitude as if he was already twenty. "What's up?"

"Beat it, kid. I'm not in the mood to blow something meaningless up, un"

"Hehe, haven't slept very well?"

"I said: -"

"I know what ya said. And I said: haven't slept very well?"

Deidara rolled with his eyes. What was he? A magnet for lunatics who escaped from nuthouses?

"Is that your partner down in the hole?"

"Unfortunately, yes, un."

"What's up with the 'un? Ya've got a speaking disorder?"

"What, un?"

"Ya did it again!"

"I don't have a speaking disorder." Deidara had to swallow his next insult towards the kid. He had other things on his mind besides that.

"Wha'eva you say. Want me to get yar partner?" But the boy had already pulled out some sort of bellows and aimed for the hole in the earth. The young child pushed the thing already together and created a stream of air hat circulated right in front of him.

"Fuuton: Gametsui Hando!" he called out and the air deformed into some sort of hand. It vanished into the dark pit where the bomber could hear his partner yelp in surprise. When the half-transparent hand reappeared again it held a stunned lunatic in its grasp, letting him then not fall all too softly upon the dirt. "Ya hurt?" came the voice of the youngster again

"What?" Tobi asked while cocking his head to the side.

"I asked: Ya hurt?"

Deidara saw that Tobi wouldn't make much from the 'slang' this kid was using and decided to translate it. "He asked if you're hurt, un."

"No, no! Tobi isn't hurt. Tobi was only surprised by hand thingy."

"Ya mean my justu? It's created by my bellows."

"Wha-"

"Shut up, un! Just shut up! Both of you!" Deidara called out and rolled with his eyes. "What are you doing here? We're Akatsuki! Dangerous criminals, un. A kid of your age shouldn't even try to get near us!"

"Akatsuki? So I was right." Was all the boy could mutter. "I was already wondering why ya had the same clothes as those other men and my sensei!"

"What, un?"

"Akatsuki. My name's Kuukiire."

"Don't tell me that you're our contact person? You're a kid!" Deidara snorted offended. He had at least expected Shinkan to assign some tough-looking thugs to escort them to the new base. Not a kid with a bigger mouth than that good was for him.

"So Kuukiire-san has found Hidan-kun and Kakuzu-kun?" Tobi chirped.

"If ya mean the foul-mouthed idiot and the greedy tight-ass… yeah."

This just couldn't be any better for Deidara. He had always know that Shinkan was a strange woman but he never thought her to be capable of looking after a genin team. Somewhere he felt sorry for the boy but it seemed that he held the same arrogance as his sensei he only missed her polite manners and was quite straight forward.

"Where are they right now, un? I want to get this over with. Get us to Shinkan."

"Right away, ma'a-… heh, Sir."

Deidara's glare suddenly darkened. That kid had swallowed the word 'Ma'am' right in time in order for him not to blow a sculpture up in his face. In one way he'd probably need him to get to his objective since Shinkan had an annoying habit of hiding herself rather well and he was going to get in trouble with Shinkan and even as she may not be the strongest in the entire of Akatsuki. If she had the element of surprise in her advantage she could prove to be a difficult opponent. And he'd rather avoid trouble with any member of Akatsuki. "Where is the temporary base?"

"Down there." Kuukiire said happily. "In the hole. There's Aasugakure."

The blonde suddenly stiffened and turned towards the thirteen year old. He had to be kidding them. "I don't care what you just said but I'm not going to jump in head-first in that hole. Who knows where we'll end up?!"

"Save that load 'o bull for another time. I'm here fer a reason. Ya'd never find Aasugakure if ya don't have someone who knows the environment. And I got raised around here." The little, blue haired boy muttered before he scratched his neck. Quickly he took the bellows again to his side and strapped it upon his back. "At any rate. Let's head on. Sensei's gonna be pissed off if I keep her waiting any longer and she ain't a nice being when she's pissed."

Deidara had a remark burning in his mouth. His fingers were tingling. He couldn't even describe how much pleasure he'd experience by killing off the little twerp in front of him. But unfortunately Karma hated him at the moment. He needed to kid to bring him to the base but perhaps when there were there he could blow him up.

It was already clear that that boy looked down on everything that hadn't hurt him yet. But that was going to change according to Deidara. How wrong this kid was by putting up such a big mouth in front of him.

He let his blue eyes wander over to the kid who had already left and walked at a good distance behind him. "Tobi!" he scolded.

The masked nin looked up and noticed that he had been skipping again. "Sorry, sempai!" he muttered a bit ashamed.

'Freaking idiots. They all are.' Was the thought of Deidara as he glanced from his partner to his 'guide' 'All a bunch of _dead_, fucking idiots.'

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_A/N__: Please Review if you want ^^ And tell me if this was a good chapter. I'm not so sure about it. I hope that it'll get better in the future. I've still got some nice idea's for the sideplots. But suggestions are always nice and could be helpful ^^ _

_And if you think that one of the characters is OOC please tell me. I want to make this story fun for you and for me and it won't help me if I keep making the same mistakes ^^ _

_Thank you again for reading my chapter. I hope next update won't take as long as this one (schoolwork, sorry) _


	4. Terrifying Information

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein, ShikaTema

_Mentioned:_ SakuKiba

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

If you have any comments or suggestions I really want to hear them.

**-------------------- Chapter Four --------------------**

_Everything is new…_

The previous day had crept along at an astonishing slow pace. Sakura had been lucky that the nice, little girl had wanted to heal her wounds but unfortunately the silver-haired man had busted in and dragged the girl out again, muttering something about starving and wanting to eat.

The rest of the day she hadn't seen another living being and because of the lack of windows she didn't know even if it was day or night. She still had the chakra-disturbing and absorbing cuffs on her wrist but the two clasps had been tied on one of her arms to grant her with enough freedom and give her some comfort.

The Konoha-kunoichi started to wonder why she had been brought to this abandoned little house with no less than three Akatsuki watching her and from the things she heard this morning she figured that there were even more on their way. Whatever her task or purpose here was, it was clear that it was important. It actually made her want to escape even more than if she had been captured by just one or two. If she was to escape something big would fail.

The girl just sat there on the more or less comfortable bed just thinking before she fell asleep again due to the unstable way of living the past week.

It wasn't for a couple of hours that she woke. As her slim hand rubbed the sleep out of her eyes she stared again in the room. A sigh escaped her dry lips. It hadn't been all a nasty dream.

The room was dark, cold and empty. But now she saw something new. On the table across the room there stood some items. They must've put that there when she was fast asleep. Slowly Sakura climbed down the bed and moved towards it. She saw a small mirror, a tub of water, a bar of soap, some fresh clothes and finally something to eat and drink. The latter wasn't much. A little bit of rice, probably leftovers and a cup of water. But she hadn't expected an expensive meal or something. She was just hungry and would eat the scraps given to her.

She could refresh herself later on. Now she was more hungry and thirsty and fulfilling those needs were more important than the other one.

Because of the lack of chopsticks she ate it with her hands and greedily shoved it into her mouth before washing the sticky rice down with some water.

When she had finished the bowl she slowly pulled the mirror towards her. Somewhere she feared what she was going to see. She wouldn't look at her best, that was for sure but perhaps it would be better than she thought.

With one flick of her wrist she moved the mirror to look at the person at the other end and gasped. She had changed but not for the best, as she had figured. She had lost some weight and her face was covered in dirt, dried blood and sweat.

Her cheeks had become a bit hollow but nothing to be afraid about. Bags had appeared underneath her jade eyes which had lost their sparkle. Her bubblegum-coloured looked dull and flat.

As in instinct she pulled the bowl of water closer to her and started to wash her body with the washing cloth and her hair as well. It couldn't count as a bath but it certainly was a start.

She felt refreshed again as the cold water wiped the dirt off her body and by the time she was done the clear water had changed to an icky puddle of brown-reddish water but she couldn't care less. She looked a bit decent again.

To end it she took the clothes given to her and unfolded them to see what they precisely were. A black tanktop like the ANBU of her homevillage wore, a pair of beige pants and lastly there were a pair of black ninjaboots.

She was glad that she finally got to slip out of the rather uncomfortable dress. Now she could at least stand a bit of a chance in a fight, even without her murderous chakra.

She hadn't even finished dressing for 5 minutes or she heard stomping on the stairs. Someone was coming in the direction of her room and according to the chakra signal it had to be the silver-haired man. Hidan he was called she remembered.

The lock on the door got twisted brutally before the door itself got slammed open. His expression wasn't all to bright.

"Tch, fucking dogs. Why do I have to do this all the time?" he muttered lowly before glaring towards Sakura. "You, bitch." Again that nice vocabulary of his. She wondered who had ever taught him those words.

Sakura whipped her head up and just stared in his direction, choosing not to say anything. He didn't seem to be the person to like backtalk all that much.

"What's the matter? Cat got your fucking tongue? Whatever. The transvestite and the idiot have arrived. Time for some fucking quality time with the team." He mumbled. "This is going to be sooo much fun." The sarcasm dripped like venom from his words. Neither of them were looking forward to sit in a room with the rest it appeared.

But both for other reasons. Hidan had better things to do, praying to his god for instant. Or coming up with better insults for his new team.

Sakura on the other hand was afraid. With good reason. No less than 5 Akatsuki members were going to be down those stairs. Five of the most dangerous ninja ever to be facing this earth and all of them wanted something from her and she didn't even know what it might be. But a strange feeling in her gut told her that it wasn't something innocent that they wanted from her. Otherwise they wouldn't have went through all that trouble just for her. With mixed feelings she rose from her sitting position and walked over to the arrogant man so that he could lead the way.

As soon as she had exited the room she felt the hand of Hidan pushing her hard in the small of her back, almost strong enough to make her fall over. She gave him unconsciously an angry glare over her shoulder. One of those glares which would make Tenzou proud of her.

"Ohoeh," Hidans mocking voice sounded. Of course that bastard wouldn't be afraid. He was an Akatsuki and he probably wasn't bright enough to recognize danger if it spat in his face. At least that's what she concluded from the way his colleagues talked about him. "I'm soo fucking afraid right now. Quit the bullshit, girl and keep walking. I'm too damn irritated for your fucking games."

Sakura's shoulders slumped again and she walked off as a beaten dog. If she had a tail it would reside between her legs at that moment. The narrow staircase she descended brought her again in that fairly large kitchen with the wooden table and six chairs around it.

But this time she didn't feel all that comfortable. The intense, evil chakra in that room was almost too much for her to bear. Never had she felt anything like it before. It was almost disgusting and made her feel sick to her stomach.

The pressure kept pushing on her shoulders to such an amount that she had to stop just to get used to it. But 'Mister Nice Guy' behind her wasn't buying it. Again that rough push between her scapula. Her jade eyes widened, trying to find her balance again. For just a moment it seemed like she was going to fall if she hadn't placed her foot right in time to avoid it.

"Damn it. I almost thought you were going to land on that fucking muzzle of yours." She could hit Hidan right now. And if she had the strength and the freedom she would've done it without thinking twice.

"Hidan!" a voice snapped at him. "That's enough. It took you long enough to get here and this isn't the time to make someone trip just for your fun."

"What? Come on, Kakuzu! It would've been fucking hilarious! You can't deny that!"

"Your sense of humour clearly isn't as evolved as the one of the rest of us… you idiot."

"What did you say you fucking greedy piece of shit?!"

"Shut up, all of you!" a new voice added to the bunch.

Sakura adjusted her eyes to the end of the table where she could see two new faces. Or actually… New. One was but the other she had seen before. She couldn't just place it.

"You you're the girl who beat up Sasori-no-danna, I'm impressed that you were able to pull that off." The blonde smiled towards her, glaring intensely with his one blue eye.

Then it struck Sakura like a speeding train. He was the young man who had left the cave to capture Naruto, the same ninja who had abducted Gaara from his village. The man who had both his arms blown off. From the looks of it they were reattached and functioning again.

The other guy was a question mark. Even if he was her father she wouldn't recognize him. He was clad in the traditional Akatsuki-cloak but had a strange mask attached to his face. And if that wasn't enough there wasn't a piece of his skin visible. His hands were covered with black gloves and his neck had one of those high collars. Only his spiky, black hair was visible.

Those two sat at the right side of the masked man. On his other side sat the woman and the foul-mouthed man took his seat right next to her. Which left one seat empty. The one opposite of Kakuzu and next to the masked man and Hidan. Sakura gulped inwardly and in stead of taking a seat she just stood there, waiting to be ordered to do so.

"Make yourself comfortable, woman. This isn't going to take very long but it might be good to sit down." The piercing green and red eyes were put upon her body as he spoke.

The young kunoichi took the offer and sat down, instinctively pushing her chair as far as possible from the table.

"What's the matter, un?" the blonde spoke up again. "We might be Akatsuki but we don't bite… Hidan might but that's something different, yeah."

"Shut the fuck up, girly-man!"

"It would be a great improvement if we were to talk about the fact why we are here and have that little tramp over there taken as a hostage, would you not all agree?" Those fiery orbs of Shinkan placed themselves briefly upon Sakura before eyeing the other males in the room. "We are not making her feel comfortable. Why not start with some brief introduction. She has the right to know who her kidnappers are, no?"

"Perhaps… It would make things easier and avoid confusion." Kakuzu agreed. He raised his tanned head which made him even bigger than he already was and looked firmly in the direction of the small pinkette. "I am Kakuzu, financial manager of Akatsuki and on this mission I am the leader." He moved his head in the direction of Shinkan, giving her the opportunity to introduce her.

"I go by the name of Shinkan."

"Hidan, I'm the fucking apostil of Jashin-sama. My job is to clear this damn earth of all the fucking atheist dogs."

"Tobi is Tobi… Tobi is a good boy!" Sakura just glared at the man. Was he joking or was he for real? If it was the latter she wondered why he ever made it into Akatsuki. He seemed to be the kind of guy like Naruto… Only more retarded and short-minded.

"For Jashin's sake, boy… Seriously… Someone put the fucker out of his misery!"

The blonde was the last one to introduce himself. After he had rolled with his eyes and face palmed out of shame for his neighbour he looked up again. "I'm Deidara, un. I'm an artist who thinks that art is a blast, yeah!"

Kakuzu took the word again. "We are here on a mission on behalf of Akatsuki, you must know that much already." He started. "You were taken from Konoha because of your close relationship with Naruto Uzumaki, the Jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi. Time is nearing and we must have him within a few weeks."

A mental brick hit Sakura. She felt all of her guilt rising up in her chest. She had been so naïve to think that she was taken for her medical talents, sure she was talented but the Akatsuki wouldn't be that stupid to put their lives on the line because of that. Of course they knew that medical ninjutsu wasn't only healing abilities. She could shut down all the brain activity within a minute and without her 'patient' noticing it.

It would only be logical that they would've taken her as a hostage for Naruto. She had been on his team since the beginning.

"My source told me that you were the closest to the Kyuubi-Jinchuuriki. And even if you were not he would still come for you. We have all heard or seen the unfortunate events after the extraction of the One-tails. When his Jinchuuriki got killed the Kyuubi-Jinchuuriki got rather upset and acted without thinking. That is exactly what we need from him. If he marches in here without thinking twice he will not stand a chance." Shinkan mumbled with a satisfied smile on her face, one Sakura would like to wipe off her face.

"Yes, I still remember how that little punk got all heated up about me taking that fourth Kazekage, un." Deidara joined in on the subject. "He almost lost his head, like a freaking beast or something."

"Don't talk about Naruto that way!" Sakura defended her friend. It would've been more wise to keep her mouth shut but that wasn't like her. Somewhere she felt secure enough to open her mouth.

As she looked around she saw that she had stunned everybody. All the visible mouths were agape and eyes widened.

"I'm surprised, young girl that you've got enough guts to speak up towards us. We're Akatsuki after all." Kakuzu commented the girl. "Putting that aside. You're here for that reason. I advice you to keep your voice down. We need you alive but not safe and sound. It would in fact only ensure that Kyuubi will act without thinking."

"Stop saying that Naruto is a mindless beast! He may sometimes act without reasonable thinking but he is smart and has enough experience to beat you. And do you really think that taking me will solve anything? He won't know that I'm gone and Tsunade-sama will never let him come here to save me. And if he will I'll make sure that he won't get any near-"

"Shut up, girl. You should know your position here."

"I'm not afraid of you all. In the end Akatsuki won't succeed. I am certain of that!" Sakura was angry, she was mad… Actually she was furious. And nobody would make her shut up now. She would say what was on her heart and say that loud and clear.

But unfortunately for her… Kakuzu wasn't having any of it. His eyes narrowed and he slowly stood from his sitting position. Everything in his body language and his raising Chakra showed that he was ready to harm her, if not kill her. He slowly moved his one arm up and she already saw how Hidan and Shinkan started to tense, both knew what was likely going to happen within a minute.

"I'll make sure that you won't succeed in your goals! Even if it means-…"

"Killing yourself, un?" Deidara finished her sentence. He had an amused look on his face. "You think that killing yourself will solve anything, hmm? Think about it? Will that friend of yours just sit there and let you have us? He'll come still… Whether it is to rescue you or to revenge your death. Then why not make yourself comfortable while you're here in stead of making such a ruckus. Some of us have quite a short temper, un" His blue eye moved over to Kakuzu who had a clear vein twitching on his forehead from anger.

Sakura just realised that she had been lucky that he had interrupted her ranting and raving or else she had felt Kakuzu's punishment.

"Settle down, Kakuzu." Shinkan muttered, her eyes glancing warily towards the tanned man. "If there are no more questions to be answered I consider this meeting to be closed before it all gets out of control. All of us are fed up with travelling and tired. I suggest some of you go to sleep. So? Any more questions?"

All of the eyes were settled upon Hidan, he was the one who didn't grasp everything. "What, you pathetic sons of bitches? I understand everything!" He didn't sound all to pleased to be taken for an idiot.

"Shinkan?" Kakuzu suddenly mumbled from behind his covered mouth. "Wait a moment. Deidara, bring the girl back to her room. I have something to discuss with Shinkan, the rest of you… Leave."

"Tch! 'Discuss', right!" barked Hidan who grinned widely. "Fucking horny dogs. Can't even keep sti-" He silenced when he felt an angry aura coming from the 'horny dogs'. Several threads crawled out of Kakuzu's arms and Shinkans arms both had changed to the talon-like shapes and from the vague appearance of her it was clear that she had her defence up.

"Hidan, leave." Hissed Kakuzu before he turned around, sighing deeply to blow off some steam. He was too close to kill someone.

Hidan had taken the hint, he couldn't get killed but those two combined could cause a lot of pain and Hidan didn't like pain if it wasn't for his twisted God.

The young Konoha-girl saw how the two killers retreated elsewhere.

Deidara and Tobi just nodded, knowing that Kakuzu was in charge and that he didn't like to be talked back. The blonde rose from his chair and walked over to Sakura, standing beside her. "Stand up, I'll bring you to your room, un."

"Oooh, senpaaai!" A shiver crawled up Deidara's spine.

"What? Tobi?"

"Senpaai is lucky having such a pretty girl. Reminds Tobi of a sweet love story. You know the love stories in which the strong, noble knight stands to defend the defenceless princess." The masked man made a squealing sound and shook slightly from the amount of cuteness he had in himself.

Sakura couldn't help but to blush actually, even after she had made herself so angry. This man had never done anything to her actually. It had been those others who were a real pain in the ass. Hidan with his constant cursing and insulting and those two predators who seemed all to eager to taste her blood.

"And you could protect her from evil beings who want to kidnap her! Oeh! Oh! And Senpai could be like the prince on the white horse… Or… The prince on the white mushy sculpture! The prince on the white bird! And then Senpai could marry the pretty girl and live happily ever after!" Tobi was completely living his dream.

"Tobi… One little detail… She's our prisoner. She's going to be rescued from the 'badguys', from us by her prince… Idiot. I'm part of the ones taking her captive and so are you!" He just had to shatter the dream Tobi was having. The masked ninja let his shoulders hang and stared in a depressive way to the floor.

"Let's get going before he gets more idea's… the idiot." Deidara muttered as he already walked towards the stairs.

Sakura was a bit confused by the sudden outburst of joy by Tobi but followed Deidara eventually. The staircase didn't made a sound as they walked upon it and neither did the unstable, almost rotting wooden floor. But if a less elegant person like Hidan had to do this he would make a lot of noise, no doubt about that.

Deidara opened up her room and let her enter it, only briefly glancing at her. "You have everything you need, un?" he asked, just to be sure.

"Um, yeah. I think so. Thanks anyway. But wait…" Deidara opened the door again, waiting for her comment. "Where is Dasshimen? The young girl?"

"She and her team had to leave since Shinkan no longer used them, un. Something else, un?" The artist didn't feel sorry for the girl. He was a merciless killer. So he could resist a sad girl.

"No, no thanks. That's it." Sakura sighed softly and moved back to the bed. Her heart still pounded in her throat from the adrenaline she had felt. She sat upon the bed and embraced her legs, burying her face in between them. The one friend she had in these times had left and now she was all alone again. She could use someone to talk to right now.

The guilt was eating her away. Because of her Naruto could get caught and killed by those beings down there.

If she just had been stronger and fended off that woman nothing would've happened. If she-… if if if… With 'if's she wouldn't come far. She had to act. But how. Either way Naruto would come to her. That Deidara had figured that out. She was too important to Naruto to just be cast aside.

Her only option left was to escape without Naruto ever noticing that she had been here. But that would be nearly impossible. She still had those Chakra-disturbing cuffs on her one arm and according to Dasshimen they had set up chakra sensors so they could know of her every movement within this house.

Her head slumped back against her knees in defeat. Shikamaru would've found a solution to this matter. But why couldn't she come up with something?

Again she sunk in deep thoughts about what she possibly could do. She felt so useless. Even after she had promised not to anymore.

It all started without her approval. Tears started to sting behind her eyes and just ran along the corners of her eyes, over her cheeks to drip upon the hideous covers of the bed.

Something alerted her all of a sudden. Her fists clenched into the sheets as her head looked around, looking for intruders. At first she didn't find any but she had noticed something. Smoke… Smoke was rising from under the door. No, she was wrong. It was more a cloud of ashes. An image sprang to her mind.

Shinkan standing in her room. Her claws red with the blood of Kiba and her ominous form looming over the Inuzuka.

She pushed the thought aside. Why would that woman be here? She had what she wanted, didn't she?

Still that couldn't calm Sakura down.

"You, crying? I had never imagined that I would ever see that. But still, somewhere I can understand it." A voice drifted through the air as if Sakura was in the middle of a dream.

The cloud of smoke and ashes expanded to the point that half of her room was filled with it. Slowly bits of ash started to reassemble in the shape of Shinkan, standing inside the room.

"I think it is time." She said, eyes of the devil intensely staring at her. Grey arms crossed before her chest and a slight smirk tugged on one of the corners of the villains mouth. "Time to teach you some manners…"

Even without Sakura wanting it her lungs started to get into troubles. The smoke had sucked most of the oxygen out of the air and she had been forced to breath in the foul stench of something burned along with sulphur. Her eyes grew heavy, as if she hadn't slept in ages.

"Give in… Struggling only makes it worse." A faint voice whispered in her head.

-----------------------------------

Kiba stared towards everybody in his room. It had only been an hour since he had woken and already there was a lot of ruckus going on around him. This matter was clearly important. After all they were missing one of Konoha's top medic ninja. "I'm telling the truth! Honestly!" he mumbled when he had finished his story. He didn't know what to make of this. Now that he had heard the story being told by him it somewhere sounded silly and almost not believable. An Akatsukimember infiltrating Konoha successfully so that even the maintainers of the shield-jutsu hadn't noticed something while they'd normally could register every slight disturbance like a leaf.

And ever since Itachi and Kisame had successfully infiltrated the shield they had adjusted it so that even the former ANBU-captain couldn't enter it anymore.

And a woman with the abilities similar to a ghost, dissolving when she was hit and reforming her body with ash.

The slit, black eyes of Kiba ran over the five people in the room. He bit his lip in suspense. Were they going to believe him or not?

"Akatsuki?" Shizune was the one to break the tension. "Are you sure? Why would Akatsuki put so much effort in this? Wasn't their goal to catch the tailed beasts?"

"I don't know. That woman just sat there, talking about her mission being to capture Sakura. Honestly! I'm not lying!" Kiba said almost desperately.

"If it is true Konoha might be in trouble. If Akatsuki is able to sneak in our village that easily nobody is safe." Tsunade concluded, hands folding over her large bosom. "We have to improve the safety around here."

"He isn't lying." Ibiki concluded who sat casually upon a chair. "Even though it might be a bit unbelievable. The story is too farfetched to be made-up and you said that the eyes of that women were like deep pits with fire, right?"

"Er… yeah…"

"One of my scoutingteams who vanished had reported someone with those eyes right before the connection got severed. I'm trying to find her identity but there is no file of her within this village or my connections." He grumbled with his low voice. "But it doesn't answer why they would want to kidnap Sakura. Her medical abilities perhaps? Even if that's true it isn't something Akatsuki would do. Not like this."

"I'm not sure…" Tsunade concluded. "Sakura was skilled, no doubt about that but even so… I don't think Akatsuki doesn't know that a medic can inflict as much damage as one can heal… or even more. They must've been desperate for a healer then."

"Naruto…" Kakashi suddenly mumbled. "I think they're after Naruto again and using Sakura as a bait."

"That's likely… But still, Akatsuki isn't doing things it usually does. Normally they attack the Tailed Beasts right on without any ways around it… But now they go through more trouble than ever…" Shizune questioned.

"Akatsuki knows to what extend Konoha is going to protect Naruto." Tsunade figured. "We have put him under protection of Jiraiya and he left without telling where they were going. The most safe procedure. Several search-teams have vanished when they were looking for Orochimaru and the Akatsuki. I fear that they have fallen in Akatsuki's hands and tortured to confession." A shiver crawled up her spine and made goose bumps appear on her skin.

Kakashi merely blinked. He held his hand in front of his mouth as he was realising everything. He was a strong, skilled ninja. He used to have only an eye for the rules but when his best friend died to save him he had opened his eyes and started to care for others. Even more throughout the years.

But just now he realised that he was cursed. Everybody who he loved died, left him or got kidnapped. Was it a curse laying upon him, a stupid coincidence or was it the punishment for living all his teenage years for the rules? He didn't know but he didn't like it one bit. Images of his father, Rin, Obito, Minato, Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura ran through his head.

He felt the hand of Tenzou upon his shoulder, trying to reassure him but failing in doing so. "Are you alright, senpai?" the wood-user asked.

"Not really, Tenzou. I need to lay down and think a bit." Kakashi mumbled. He stared into the direction of Tsunade. Asking her to hunt those Akatsuki down would only lead in a negative result. But he couldn't blame her. They didn't even know who, why and where so there wasn't a place to start. "What is going to happen now, Hokage-sama?"

"We have to wait, Kakashi. I'm sorry." Tsunade sighed and stared towards Kiba again. "You must feel tired. Get some more sleep. If you need anything you can ask the nurses, ok? We'll leave you now."

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama." The dog-nin muttered defeated.

"For what?"

"For not being able to protect her. I just stood there and let it happen. I sho-"

"None of that, Kiba. You nearly gave your life for her. If they hadn't found you that early I couldn't have helped you. You tried your best but you were facing an Akatsuki." She told him in a slight aggressive tone. "We'll find her again and capture or kill the ones responsible for this mess."

Kiba nodded and sighed deeply before laying down again, not yet drifting to sleep.

"Ibiki? Could you find more information about the task? Send out your best tracking team." She commanded him. "Rest of you can leave. I'll keep you all posted."

The blonde saw how everybody left, not all with a bright face. It was confirmed that Sakura wasn't dead but now she was in an even bigger mess. Things far worse than death could be facing her.

Just as the Hokage wanted to leave the room she heard Kiba sigh her name again: "Sakura."

It made the woman only feel worse. Her surrogate daughter snatched right under her nose and she hadn't even realised it.

Even worse, the intruder had laid a different body instead and she had fallen for it, she, the woman considered to be the best medic to live upon this earth. It was a double slap in the face. And if she was ever to meet this woman with the devil-like eyes that demoness would wish she had stayed in the fiery depths of hell.

-----------------------------

Just what was it with her? She wasn't living a life. She was constantly slipping between consciousness and unconsciousness due to pure boredom, lack of sleep and evil women who smoked a bit too much.

Another time she woke with a part of her body in a massive pain. This time it was her throat and even her lungs were quite sore. They felt like they had just been switched with the lungs of a 80-year old chain-smoker who had been smoking from his 4th birthday.

The back of her throat was dry, irritated and burned slightly. She wanted to cough the irritation out of her windpipe but she knew that it was going to hurt so much that it wouldn't repay the effort.

"Each time you impress me, young girl." That smooth voice of that woman again. What was she trying to do? Get first place on the list of persons she hated the most? If so she was really close to achieving that spot. "I had always thought that ninja were to hide their emotions from the enemy. As I had always had Itachi as an example for Konoha I would've thought that the citizens of Konoha were empty cases… Hollow… No emotions what so ever. But on the other hand. He is an elite ninja, considered a real talent. A talent unlike any other seen there. In comparison to him you are a guppy and he is a white shark."

The woman came into Sakura's blurry view. She had gotten rid of the coat for reasons unknown to the bubblegum pink haired girl.

But that wasn't the only thing that had changed. Sakura realised that she wasn't in the same room anymore. This was a small room, dark, dry and dull. And she was sitting upon pieces of charcoal while her hands were tied behind her back again, by the irritating cuffs. Her heart skipped a beat. What was going to happen?

"Not so talkative anymore, are we?" a mean grin replaced the neutral expression upon Shinkans face. "I can see in those eyes of yours that you are dying to know what your purpose is here. I'll tell you… soon enough."

Sakura whipped her head up, glancing towards the woman with so much hatred that she had never felt for someone. Not even for Orochimaru. This woman was a direct threat to her and indirect threat to Naruto and her entire village.

"Your behaviour in the dining room was inappropriate. It was actually too rude. You were lucky that Deidara saved your little buttocks. Like he said some of us are not too patient when we are conversation with a lower being."

"That's a lot coming from someone who got her arm crushed by me when I really wasn't in fighting condition and who gets threatened by everything that breaths in this house." Sakura retorted. She just couldn't let the chance pass to insult that woman.

"You little tramp!" the hissing response came. "It is because of this that you are here. Do you not understand? Are you slow in the mind?"

All of a sudden Shinkan had vanished and reappeared in front of Sakura, her ghostly pale hand clenched her chin and forced the two pairs of eyes to meet.

"If you taunt the bull you are to expect its horns. That is what some of us are, young girl. Rampaging bulls, dying for a chance to show who we are. Not me, not definitely me. I have other ways of showing who I really am." Shinkan hissed. The other hand started to stroke of Sakura's back, making her shiver in slight fear. The hand slowly deformed into the claw and stopped right between two vertebra of her spine. "I don't run towards you, hoping that you are that stupid, afraid or foolish to stand within my range. That is the overall Akatsuki-style. Since they can afford to make some mistakes. They are strong and like a challenge. But I am not."

"You stab people in the back!" Sakura spat in Shinkans face.

"You have some guts in you, girl. Guts of which I'm jealous but also guts because of which I pity you. You should understand the situation you are in, tramp. If I push my nail into your skin in the right angle I can sever some of the nerves of your spinal cord. Paralysing everything below your neck for life. You will not even able to move a finger." She whispered. "But you are right. I am a backstabber. I rely on the effect of surprise. As you have seen and experienced I am not the person to live through a fair hand-to-hand combat." The Akatsuki stepped back again, moving towards the chair.

"Fair? What do you mean with that?"

"You think that I don't use mean tricks? I use them all the time… Deceiving is one of my talents as well." She whispered and showed her arm which Sakura had damaged in their battle.

Sakura frowned again. The arm was exactly the way she had seen it last time. Covered in a bloody pattern like a cracked vase. "What about it?"

"Watch closely." Shinkan hushed the young girl and make a quick series of seals. Sakura gasped as several pieces of coal around her started to burn and turn into ashes. The ashes rose again and moved towards the grey woman. Attaching it to the flesh and healing it.

"W-what?" Sakura whispered. "That's impossible!"

"Is it? Think about it. How could I enter a village as high secure as Konoha without even a dog knowing about me? How could I evade the weapon and your fist being cast at me and how could I enter your room without even opening the door? Genjutsu? Could be but I'll tell you right now that I wasn't the genjutsu- nor the taijutsu-type in the first place." The Akatsuki whispered.

"What kind of jutsu is that?"

"They call it Haijutsu, even if it isn't an element actually. It's ash. I haven't perfected it since I recreated one of my clans special jutsu's." She explained. "Originally it was a healing jutsu. Like the rest of my clan. All the elements we can use are non-aggressive. They are used in a healing matter. You have seen the 'talent' of my younger sister. I have recreated it to an aggressive type. Normally the technique would use ashes and recreate the separate particles similar to the structure of a human body, thus healing it. I am recreating my body constantly to avoid getting hit or recreate parts of my body in a weapon, like my claws most of the time." Shinkan smirked as she waved her weapon in front of her face.

"W-what? How can you do that?" Sakura gasped. "You were born with the gift to heal someone then why would you want to harm someone? You are sick in your head!" she spat.

"Maybe. It is true that not too many ninja want to cause harm in stead of curing it." The white-haired ninja moved over to Sakura and slid her fingers along the concrete wall, causing a screeching sound. Her free hand made a fireseal and sonly Sakura felt what was happening. More pieces of coal started to heat up and catch flame. She immediately jumped to her feet and avoided the scorching underground.

"What are you doing?!" Sakura screamed, trying to avoid any pain. "What is this for? What do you want?"

"You misbehaved earlier… In the meeting. You nearly brought Kakuzu to the point of killing. He resisted the urge but talked to me later on, remember? Of all the members in this house I am the most appropriate to do this."

"Do what? I get it now that you can handle fire, but what has that to do with me?!" Sakura screeched in pain as she felt the painful burns on her lower body from the torture.

"You really are slow are you not? To teach you some manners of course? And how does something learn something the fastest? Through pain… Think about it. What does one do when a child is misbehaving? It gets a hit to the head, not too bad of course but harmful enough to make it think about its actions. Same counts for a dog. Or any other animal for that matter. When a creature eats something and gets harmed in the process it learns to be more cautions or even to avoid that kind of prey." Shinkan said in an amused way as if she was just talking to Sakura in stead of torturing her. "This way you will learn to keep that big trap of yours shut."

Sakura's heart skipped a beat. She had outrun her luck. She had pushed it too far with the wrong people, she realised that now. How could she have been so foolish as to think that they needed her safe and sound? She wasn't going to die but she probably was going to wish that she was.

"Is it me or is it getting hot in here?"

Sakura gritted her teeth, in order to not give in to the screams and other ways to ignore the very inappropriate, lousy joke coming from her torturer. She knew that it was over now. She was getting tired and her legs were covered in burns and blisters from the intense heat. Even if she wanted she couldn't move any longer. Her legs hurt too much to keep going. "Stop!" she cried out as she fell to her knees, giving her even more pain.

Shinkan sighed and again made a seal. The flames retreated from the coals and soon enough those who weren't completely turned into ashes felt as cool as ever again.

Sakura looked at her legs. She could cry right now. Cry in pain, frustration and shame.

"What a pity…" Shinkan had to make another comment, which irritated Sakura a lot. "I have scorned some of the clothes. And that to think that they used to belong to my other sister. But it isn't like she's going to miss them." The white-haired sadist moved again towards Sakura, this time dragging her off the pile and sliding her sore legs over the floor. She got placed in the same chair Shinkan had been sitting in.

Faintly she saw the face of Shinkan in front of her. "We have only just begun, young girl. Do you have any regrets yet." A sadistic mock was audible in that smooth, cold voice.

Sakura's eyes widened as she saw what was coming. A loud scream echoed through the room as she felt the next torture upon her abused body.

------------------------------------

_A/N__: Oh, cliffy! Only because I have other plans for the next chapter. Or else it would be a bit overload… I think. _

_Please Review if you want ^^ _

_I'll be grateful if you did ^^ _


	5. A lesson

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein, ShikaTema

A/N: I am sorry for not uploading this in like forever but at the time I was quite busy with some things and eventually I forgot about it. I recently discovered it and decided to pick it up and perhaps rewrite some previous chapters.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

If you have any comments or suggestions I really want to hear them.

**-------------------- Chapter Five --------------------**

_Pain and suffering_

A serious amount of pain washed through her body as she felt it. Shinkans face was so close to her face that she saw every small scar and scratch but it wasn't because of that that she was in pain. The sharp nails of that mad cow were buried within her shoulder and were now starting to heat to searing temperatures.

She cried out in pain and twitched slightly, trying to escape but without her chakra she was only a normal girl. Not capable of stopping someone with a chakra-enhanced body.

"I had warned you for that big mouth of yours. I do hope that you will consider before trying to climb upon that high horse of yours again." The hissing voice of the woman sounded.

Sakura was running out of breath to scream. Her voice had lowered to a small whimper. "Please, please! Stop this!" she begged to stop the pain, begging for mercy. She'd never thought she would ever do this.

"Unfortunately for you, little tramp, I have been aching for someone to practice on. You'll suffice. And you will learn your place. Just like I learned mine…"

The young Konoha-citizen bit down upon her teeth. That was just great, she was being tortured by a frustrated mad woman who was taking it all out on her. This would be the end for her. She felt how her consciousness started to slip away. She wouldn't pass out immediately but if this kept up she would definitely do so and without any medical help her life was in serious danger.

A long, loud screech escaped Sakura's lips as the nails continued their trail down, going from her shoulders towards her back and lower back. It wasn't one big slash but a tormenting slow pace. Shinkan sliced her way through the soft, peachy skin of Sakura at a pace of an inch per minute.

"Stop resisting like that. You'll only end in increasing your pain. Have they not taught you in that hidious village how to deal with this kind of pain?" Sakura just wanted to rip the vocal cords of that sadist out and force-feed them to her. As if the torturing wasn't bad enough now Shinkan was there again with her irritating talking. In that sly voice that suited a demoness like her.

This was all just a dream, a scary, painful, sadistically dream but a dream no less. Or that was what the bubble-gum pink haired kunoichi was praying for. That white-haired psycho had never been in her room. And those other four had never talked to her. She couldn't be here but she was. She was here because of the twisted ways of Akatsuki who wanted to capture the Kyuubi, her friend.

The thought of Naruto slipped in her mind. He stood there in his stereotypical way. Turned around with his fox-like grin and waving with one hand. "Hang in there Sakura!" she heard his voice, probably a daydream or her mind messing with her now that she was in so much pain. "I'll get you out of there and kick their sorry butts for hurting you! It's a promise and you better believe it!"

"N-Naruto?" Sakura whimpered.

Another person slipped into her mind, taking refuge behind Naruto. The silver-haired porno-loving man stood there, leaning casually against a wall and a kind, selfless glare laid in that one black eye.

"Keep your head high, Sakura. I won't let anyone harm my friends. And those who do will pay the price for it." That leant-back voice soothed her for some reason.

"K-ka-kakashi?"

But her hallucinations didn't end there. Someone else stood there. She gasped as she saw just who it was. Sasuke. He stood there like she had last seen him. In that odd Sound-uniform and in a relaxed yet defensive stance. His hand resting upon his katana, Kusagi.

"Che, pathetic how those dogs have to slice you up for feeling powerful. I'll show them and my brother the power of the last Uchiha and kill them."

"S-s-sasuke?"

The next thing the girl could see was an overwhelming, bright blue light along with static sounds.

She saw Naruto charging in head over heels. "Rasengan!"

Kakashi entered with his quick yet elegant style. "Raikiri!"

And also Sasuke had taken in his aggressive stance, running stealthily yet calmly. "Chidori!"

In her mind the three attacks collided and blinded her, covering her surroundings in a bright, white light as if she had died.

She knew now that she didn't stand alone. Even when her friends weren't here they'd always stand behind her. She knew now as well that she still had to fight but had to play clever about it. Not trying to risk her life like she had done previously.

A sting on her cheek made her bright environment take on a fouler color, the one of blood before also that vanished to make place for a black one.

Just then she realised that she had lost consciousness at a point. The thick, disgusting taste of a coppery metal told her that her sense of taste had returned, scenting the blood in her throat. Her sense of smell came next as a waft of blood and scorned flesh entered her nose, making her stomach turn around.

Her hearing she had regained next. The soft, scraping sound that came from a distance told her that Shinkan hadn't left her.

The impenetrable darkness softly slid away as she cracked her eyes open. Staring into the room and almost wishing that she laid in her own bed right now. But luck was not on her side.

Now that she had opened her eyes and made a quick scan of the room she had no use in keeping to stare at her torturer. She let her head hang between her shoulders, glaring at the floor as if it was her way out.

"Pathetic. Fainting already. It is quite clear that you are no elite of your village. Those ANBU we caught had lasted longer and were in more pain than you." Again an unnecessary comment coming from Shinkan.

"You disgust me, you retarded, frustrated, deranged cow." Sakura spat, not realising that she had said this out-loud.

"What did you say?" the screech in Shinkans voice told Sakura that she had heard it. "You have a death-wish, young tramp? I can not give it to you yet but I can make sure it will not be far away."

The sound of quickening footsteps told Sakura that the mad woman was up for round two.

Before she even knew it the fingers of Shinkan were buried within her pink strands and lifted her head up with them. Those foul nails drilling slowly into the skin of her head.

The warm, almost hot aura her tormenter gave off sickened her. It was exactly the same aura you'd expect an oni to have. A devil, a demon… Something you hated and wanted to die.

It wasn't only hot it had something disgusting. Sakura felt already filthy by staying in it. As if she had just waded through a river of ashes and now had flaky, grey stripes all over her body.

Again the jade eyes and burning orange ones of the two women had to meet. The first held a pinch of anger in it, disgust and an intend to kill where the latter was plain furious, outrageous with the bloodlust dripping off them like poison off the fangs of a viper.

"You, my dearest Sakura," Shinkan was trying to remain her calm before she'd make the mistake of abusing her situation and getting punished later on. "are too close to have my nails scratch your throat open. I will not repeat it every time what your position here is and what is expected off you. My patience has a limit and you are slowly yet surely reaching it."

-o-

A long, groaning and almost painful sound filled the living room of the estate.

Like a dog who had just heard 'bone' Tobi looked up, trying to find the source of the sound. But then he found it. Hidan, sitting in one of the armchairs clutched his stomach which was growling, commanding to be filled.

"I'm starving to fucking death here! Where is that whore to fix me a meal?" he cussed again.

"Don't be silly, Hidan." Tobi chirped.

"What is it, fucking lunatic?"

"You can't die so you can't starve… Do you actually need food anyway?"

"My freaking stomach says it does so I believe it." Hidan snapped. "Besides I still need fucking energy to keep going."

"Then why don't you go to the kitchen and make yourself something. Oh! Oh! And while you're there could you make something for Tobi as well?"

"What? What do I look like to you?" the Jashinist was no in a merry mood. "I'm not some freaking wife!"

He growled softly and turned away from Tobi he wasn't going to go to the kitchen to cook. He was going to find someone to do it for him. Perhaps Shinkan could make him something. She was a woman after all. On the other hand she'd be likely to try and poison him or something alike.

His wandering through their temporary base had led him to the gardens where he heard something. His violet eyes wandered lazily over the courtyard where he saw three kids sparring against wooden structures. The 'pupils' of Shinkan as he recalled.

"Hey!" he called out loudly, making the kids drop their kunai and looking up frightened. Pathetic, little twerps. "You," he pointed at Dasshimen. "Go make me dinner… Or just make dinner for everybody while you're at it." With those words he turned around again. That little hooker had been given orders by her sister to do what she was asked of.

So Dasshimen did as she was asked. She let her shoulders slump slightly and kicked the kunai away before looking at her other two teammates. Niji and Kuukiire. "See you guys later." She smiled softly.

Kuukiire merely raised an eyebrow at the appearance of the priest. "He thinks he's all high and mighty! If sensei hadn't said not to harm him I'd ram my bellows into his throat and blow him up…"

"You know what sensei said, Kuukiire." Niji countered while folding his arms over his chest. "If we want Aasugakure back the way it was we'll have to rely on them." He looked around. Nobody of the Akatsuki had paid heed to it but their 'hidden village' was in ruins. Most of the buildings were deserted or in a bad shape. He sighed when thinking of the way it used to be. Before Aasugakure was a hellhole infested with criminals and pestilence.

"Doesn't mean I have to like it!" Kuukiire muttered. "What kind of freaks are they anyway?"

Dasshimen ignored the comments of her boys. She trusted her sister though she knew that Shinkan was no longer the person she used to be.

-o-

The girl made them dinner. It wasn't a tiresome task anyway. She wasn't going to serve them first-class food. Just some rice, some vegetables and some meat. It was ready even before Hidan came to complain again that he was hungry and he complained a lot.

She put the plates upon the table and saw how Hidan and Tobi already dug into the meal. Apparently the smell had attracted Deidara and Kakuzu who shortly after joined their colleagues and ate in silence.

Only her sister had to appear. Dasshimen decided to go and find her, knowing her sister she would forget to eat and be even more ticked off later.

Though finding Shinkan was a whole other mess. This was a house Shinkan was familiar with and who knew where she was hiding. The fact that she could hide her chakra only made the task more troublesome. The girl wandered around in the hallways until she picked something up. It was her sisters chakra and it was flaring high and spreading. Her eyes widened in shock and fear.

No, she didn't want to think about that again. It was a coincidence. It wasn't like before.

Dasshimen made her way towards the source and frowned as it had led her to a maintenance chamber. A bit hesitant she opened the door and retched at the undeniable stench of burnt hairs and meat.

The display inside made her scream. Sakura hung more dead than alive upon her chair, huge, burnt gashes were spread all over her body. A part of her face was even swollen, hiding her jade eye.

She just wanted to step forward, aiding the poor girl until she suddenly bumped into someone. Something sharp nestled itself upon her shoulders and as she looked she realized it was Shikan who held her there with her deformed claws.

"Just where do you think you are going?" that voice cold, calm and devoid of any emotion was even more terrifying when Dasshimen saw the utter destruction caused by her sister.

"S-sakura she's hurt!" she muttered.

"What were my orders, Dasshimen?"

"Escorting the girl without conversation?"

The smug smile appeared upon the face of Shinkan. "Indeed. But you have forsaken my orders, have you not? You have talked to her and now you even speak of aiding her? Dasshimen, this is what makes you weak… I know you still honor our mother by being a helpful medic but that is the reason why she died. It's the reason why you will die eventually." The claws pressed deeper into the tender skin of the child. "Leave. I'm not done with that maggot yet. She has yet to know her place." With those words Shinkan pushed her sister away and turned again towards Sakura who was panting heavily, she was on the brink of becoming unconscious again.

Shinkan circled the young girl like a vulture eying a dying prey. Eventually she struck out with a claw again, clenching her hand around the throat of Sakura who screamed due to the burning sensation.

"SHINKAN! YOU'RE KILLING HER!" Dasshimen cried out, tears streaming down her face and in less than the blink of an eye the Haiton-user had vanished, appearing in front of Dasshimen and striking her across the face with a flat palm. The young girl shrieked more in surprise than in actual pain.

"Do not undermine my authority again, Dasshimen or you will face the same punishment. Have you forgotten about our goal? About the reason why I joined Akatsuki in the first place?"

"What has torturing her to do with the resurrection of Aasugakure?"

Shinkan'ss eyes narrowed to slits before the claw took hold of the collar of the girl. "You silly girl. Aasugakure is beyond saving now. All we can do is cleanse this world of vermin." The woman pushed or actually threw Dasshimen out of the maintenance room and with a flick of her hand a small cloud of ash pushed the door closed.

-o-

Pain was all she could feel right now. She didn't even feel the three blazing fingers specifically which were buried deep within her throat. Her entire body was in agony. Those three talons which were connected to Shinkan. Her fiery eyes filled with sadism and pride.

She had placed the fingers on strategical places. Each of them avoiding the windpipe and the artery. Only burning flesh in the process.

"I strongly feel the urge to cut your vocal cords." That sly voice slithered through the air like a deadly, poisonous snake.

Sakura only whimpered in answer. She couldn't do anything right now. Trying to pull her neck away from that mad woman could result in her death and that wouldn't resolve anything.

But the haiton ninja wasn't done playing. Slowly she retreated her claws from the fragile neck of Sakura who started to cough and cry in pain. Her voice was degraded to a soft whimper.

The chuckle coming from the woman made her skin crawl, made her want to bash that greyish head of her in and pull her white hair out. But she was robbed of her chakra and her energy by the brutal tortures. "I did not want to do this." A clear lie, even a child could see that. "I was ordered to do so by Kakuzu. But now I do not mind it as much as first. I know of your pathetic attempts at reaching for my sister to aid you. I had seen it coming. She is weak and still thinks everybody who smiles at her is her friend. Naïve, young girl. Just like you actually." She paused for a second. "Like you who pleaded for the case of that boy when I abducted you. You know why he got hurt?"

"Because lou like it, don't you! You sadistic little whore!" the Konoha-citizen cried out between two massive waves of pain. "Because yo-"

Shinkan merely scoffed and tragically shook her head. She stepped over to take place behind Sakura, laying her hands upon the shoulders of her victim. She felt how the once soft and unscarred skin tensed in panic. The pink-haired girl felt how the lips of Shinkan neared her ear. The hairs in Sakura's neck rose just thinking about that face, not an inch away from her. "Partly. As an interrogation and reconnaissance specialst I have to take some pride in what I achieve but he got hurt because you were stubborn and placed trust in him. You should've ran then. I would've pushed him out the way and came for you he would've had a scratch maybe from the fall but he wouldn't be in the state he was the way I left him."

Sakura narrowed her eyes as far as her injuries allowed her to. She wanted to open her mouth to say something but nothing came out. It was a mistake she had made. She should've ran and warn someone about the Akatsuki in stead of trying to defend Kiba. But then she would've left him to the mercy of that lunatic. She could say now that she would've left him alone but she could've also killed him then.

Defeated Sakura let her head hang, she had no words for that woman right now. Again she screamed when the fingers of her torturer dug into her shoulders.

It took a while for Dasshimen to find her footing back. Eventually she softly landed against the wall. She had to think about what she had seen but she couldn't. She had to warn someone. Shinkan was going to kill Sakura and Dasshimen wouldn't let that happen. Not because Sakura's life was important for the organization but because she had taken a liking to the pink-haired kunoichi.

With tears in her eyes she moved downstairs. Nobody was left in the dining room, aside from Deidara.

"Uh?" he looked up from his meal. "What happened, un?" he asked then, a slight frown formed over his face. He hadn't seen Dasshimen this upset yet. It couldn't have been Hidan since he had gone to his room for his ritual. Tobi was unlikely and Kakuzu didn't pay any heed to the girl.

"You've got to come!" she cried softly. "Nee-sama, she's killing Sakura-chan!"

Deidara sighed softly and shook his head. He had been right when he saw Kakuzu and Shinkan going away to discuss something. Apparently it had been the torture of Sakura. It wasn't the way he'd do things but going against Kakuzu wasn't something he'd do without a proper reason. "Listen, girl, un." He had difficulties finding the exact words for this. "Shinkan is just doing what Kakuzu's telling her to do, ok? It'll be over in a few minutes."

"No, it won't." Dasshimen said stubbornly. "If you don't stop her she'll kill Sakura!"

Eventually Deidara just sighed and let his shoulders slump in annoyance. Perhaps he should go and check it out. He hadn't been on a mission with Shinkan before since she was like Zetsu. She liked to be alone. Not that he wanted to be near her. She had a creepy tendency of just appearing out of nowhere without anyone noticing her.

Deidara eventually made his way towards the maintenance he knew already that he was not going to like what he was seeing. He knew that bitch to be Akatsuki's interrogator though she usually let the victims be tortured by Hidan because it made him happy and got him off her back. There was that and the fact that she was an S-ranked lunat…- criminal just like the rest of Akatsuki.

He looked one more time towards Dasshimen who was trembling behind him. Whatever she had seen it would most likely leave the girl scarred. "Here goes nothing, un." He muttered unenthousiastically and opened the door.

Even he had to blink in order to overcome the damp, sickening smell in the air. But then he saw Sakura. Had he not known better he'd thought there was just one of those dolls of Sasori laying there. She looked lifeless. All the energy had been ripped from her and only with visible difficulty she managed to keep her eyes open. She moaned in pain and coughed. Small blood splatters appeared upon her lip and the table.

"What the hell have you done, Shinkan?" he cried out though the woman was nowhere in sight. "You were going to teach her a lesson, not halfway murder her! She's just a captive, she isn't someone for you to break like you're interrogating her!"

The air grew fuzzy as Shinkan took her material form again and looked over at Deidara. "Why are you interrupting me?" She said with a neutral expression. "The key to gain control over someone is to make them realize they are nothing… Break their little spirits. I did what I was told to do."

"You're a fucked up bitch, un."

Shinkan merely scoffed before striding towards Sakura. As she wanted to extend a hand towards the pinkette a small bang alerted her senses. Her hand had dissolved again into ashes and then she saw the cause of it. A tiny clay sculpture had attached itself onto her hand and the Iwa-nin had made it explode.

"Keep your claws off her now, un. Before she's completely dead!"

"I am a professional, Deidara. I know how to handle situations like this." She turned around and walked towards Deidara.

"Just look at her! She on the brink of death, you freak! Our mission clearly states her to be alive!"

"Is she not alive then? She is still breathing, her heart is still pumping and her brain activity has not ceased either. I am no novice of this practice."

"We have no need for a drooling, broken body. We have got to have her in a good state of mind."

"For what? For her to ponder over little plans of escape? Ways to stab us in the back? I think not."

The blonde ninja merely growled and extended his arms to push the woman out of the way.

Just as he was about to collapse with her she vanished in a puff. The ashes made the explosion-expert cough and he waved it aside. "Her spirit is not yet broken. But you may claim her as yours if it calms you down." Her voice filled the room before it grew quiet again.

Deidara hastily strode forward and looked at the wounds of Sakura. She had cuts and burns all over her body. He was hesitant to pick her up, fearing he might bring her even more to the brink of fainting.

"Just hold on now." He muttered and looked back, looking for Dasshimen who hurried towards them.

"We have to get her to a bathroom or something. Those wounds need to be cooled down and disinfected." He heard her say and he could only agree with that. He may not be a medic but even he knew how to handle burns.

As carefully as possible he picked her up and let her lean into her chest. With a hurried yet soft pace he walked off towards the only bedroom he knew for now that had a bathroom, his.

_A/N: Please Review if you want ^^ _

_I'll be grateful if you did ^^ _

_Perhaps I will include some more background information on Shinkan in the following chapter. Explaining how Aasugakure fell, why and how she joined Akatsuki and things. _

_Leave in a review (or message me) what you think. I may also skip it if you like that better. _


	6. A Ripple in the Water

**Crossing a thin Line**

**Summary: **Sakura gets kidnapped by Akatsuki and is to bring them closer to the kyuubi. She refuses but in return learns about the intentions of Akatsuki, the organisation she thought to be so evil, seems to be friendlier in more than one way then she could ever imagine… DeiSaku

**Pairings:** _Main: _DeiSaku

_Side:_ InoCho, NaruHina, KonanPein, ShikaTema

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto or anything related to it. Only my OC.

If you have any comments or suggestions I really want to hear them.

**-------------------- Chapter Six --------------------**

_A ripple in the water…_

The poor girl was feeling hot in his arms, no real surprise there. Deidara saw how Dasshimen scurried before him, opening up doors and occasionally glancing behind her to see how Sakura was holding up.

Eventually they made it to their destination, Deidara's bedroom. He laid her on the bed carefully while his young assistant moved towards the bathroom to retrieve some water and scrounge up some band-aids or anything else that might prove useful in this situation.

He let his blue eyes wander over Sakura and sighed deeply. He remembered how she'd looked when she had arrived. That determined, beautiful girl was nowhere to be seen in the empty husk that laid on the sheets. There had been a fire, an explosion in her eyes, a sign of the determination for her own safety and that of her friends. He had loved watching how her temper burst in front of no less than 5 S-ranked missing nins of the meanest caliber, Tobi excluded. A shame that art like that had to be punished.

Sure, art was fleeting as was beauty but he had wished for that piece of art to remain just a bit longer.

He looked up when Dasshimen appeared again and carefully started to wash out the various burns of the leaf-ninja. It must've been a painful thing since Sakura flinched and curled up like a small hedgehog.

"Hey there now, un." He muttered. "Hang in there, okay? Leader's going to bust our asses if we lose you. I know it hurts like hell but perhaps you should see this as a lesson, un." Suddenly he noticed something. The girl was still awake, his own grin widened slightly. "What? You should've known better than to pick a fight with those two."

Perhaps he had been wrong, the art before him hadn't died yet. Perhaps there was even going to be a bigger explosion.

The girl groaned in responds, probably of the washingcloth rubbing over her sore skin rather than to what he was saying.

"You're able to handle it from here, Dasshimen?" he asked then.

The girl looked up, surprised and nodded quickly. "Yes, I think I will…"

"I'll be downstairs if you need anything but I advice you not to come down unless you really need something. It might get dangerous down there now...." He muttered, scratching the back of his neck just thinking of the mess Shinkan was about to cause.

Without another word he turned around and quickly stepped out of the room, in his mind those fiery, emerald orbs were still burning with hatred. Oh boy, this was an interesting captive.

-o-

He sat at his desk, looking at a recorder in front of him with such an intense glare that it could combust at any time now. He stretched his hand again and tapped upon a button. It clicked and several radars in the device sprang to life.

"Team Tori reporting." the recorder played itself again. "Our current location is –" The tape went bad at this point, only noise and crackling noises for a few seconds until it continued. "We have a lead concerning the vanishing of Team Izuru. We have discovered two members of Akatsuki at the place of crime, they were hanging over the remains of Team Izuru. Said members consist out of a presumed male with strange venus fly-like mandibles encircling his face. His skin is perfectly parted in black and white. The eyes are a very bright golden.

The other member is presumed to be female. She is a small and frail looking woman with a grey skin and white hair reaching to her lower back. Her sclera has a deep, black color while the sclera is colored a bright orange. Pictures will be included when this tape is sent." The tape produced only crackling sounds at that point. "We think them to be some kind of reconnaissance and evidence-disposal team. The male was seen devouring the remains of Koshi while the woman incinerated the bodies of Renka and Kaizen. We still think they haven't spotted us yet though both of them seem to be looking more frequently into our direction. If they know we are here we have no idea why they haven't gone on the offensive yet. At the moment they have taken refuge in a cave, probably for the upcoming storm."

Ibiki exhaled slowly, the sound similar to the growling of a vexed bear. His finger pushed another button which stopped the tape.

That had been the last of Team Tori. They had gone missing, just as Team Izuru.

He took his hand from the recorder and took the small, brown paper bag and took its contents out. His gloved hand now held various pictures in them. Blurry pictures of the described members. The man with his weird plant-thing and the woman with her burning eyes.

He laid the pictures aside except for one. It was taken in the dark and by no means was it a piece of art but it held something enchanting. There was a smoky effect surrounding the unknown woman, resulting in her entire body being nothing but a grey, black and red blur but her eyes, which were glaring directly into the camera, were sharp. He could almost read a predatory expression in them.

He had looked at it before, knowing that this woman was the one who had entered Konoha and had left it with a captive. It angered him just knowing that nobody had seen her, aside from Kiba and that was by mere luck.

The longer he looked at it the more it started to hypnotize him. All of his thoughts were put out of his mind and only her eyes burned in his mind. The T&I specialist tore his eyes from the picture and laid it aside.

Steadily he rose from his chair and walked out of the room, into a room decorated with only a table, two chairs and a light. There was a guy sitting at the table.

It was a scrawny guy, from the looks and the scent he had a bad hygiene. This morning he had walked into the office of the hokage, demanding money, a lot of money. At closer inspection he gave them a package containing the tape and the pictures. But of course he hadn't given the best of the bunch. The tape was but a piece of the entire thing and every information regarding location had been cut out. The pictures he had given showed also no specific trait, only forest, grass and bushes.

Team Tori had done well, before vanishing, as they had been able to record and photograph information and even been able to send it. Unfortunately their bird had been intercepted by a cockroach like the one sitting before Ibiki.

"How did you come into the possession of this information?" he asked, he knew the answer already but he had to be certain.

"How do ya think I got it?" came the arrogant answer. Ibiki smelt the stale air of alcohol on the breath of the man.

"Do you make a habit of intercepting information?" a serious question.

The man raised an eyebrow and scoffed. "What do I look like? A desperate guy? There's better ways of gathering money than shooting birds down… 'sides they aren't even edible."

Ibiki looked at him, slightly confused.

"The birds… You can't eat 'em. They're too leathery." The man flashed his yellowed teeth in a grin.

"Then why did you intercept this particular message?"

"What's with the questions? Just give me the damn money. Then I'll give ya the real contents of the bag and we're done here…"

"Answer the question. The better you cooperate the sooner this'll end."

"Okay, okay, okay… geez… You'd think I was a criminal!"

"Who were you tracking down? Our ANBU-team or were you after the Akatsuki?"

"What? What kind of hobbies do ya think I 'ave? First birdshooting and now stalking of either some ninja or some cult of loons?"

Ibiki scoffed softly before smirking towards the man. "I think you are trying to gain some money for something you were trying to do but failed in doing…" he concluded. It wasn't the first time Ibiki had seen something like this. It was typical for spineless men like Mister 'Blank' sitting before him. They'd gather some information about a certain criminal and offer it, for a decent price, to a village that was interested in the capturing of said criminal. But more often than not it would be that the criminal had somehow wronged the 'informant'. Mister Blank was obviously not skilled enough to take on Akatsuki nor did he seem the type to have strong friends. So he'd just get paid for getting someone else to get rid of a thorn for who he wasn't strong enough to remove himself.

So in the end Mister Blank would have a double win.

"You do know that it is punishable to extract information directed to Konoha?" Ibiki asked, a smug grin on his face. "I could just torture the real information out of you but… I am willing to convince our Hokage to pay for the remainders of the information, not the full price though, in return for some information you can offer us. Some information that isn't going to be in the pictures nor in the tapes…"

"What?" the man narrowed his eyes at his interrogator. "What do you think I know, then?"

"It is fairly obvious that you wish to get rid of those two particular shinobi… This man and woman who have joined Akatsuki or that you want this group to dissolve entirely." Ibiki summed up what he was thinking. "You give us more information and we have more possibilities of success… Either way you'd still be making money and be rid of them."

Mister Blank growled lowly, annoyed that his entire scheme had been seen through.

-o-

After all that time she still shivered. Her arms were still covered with goose bumps, just from the short time she had seen it. Dasshimen didn't want to think about it but it kept on racing through her mind.

"No!" the girl whispered hoarsely. "I've got to focus on Sakura-chan."

She closed her eyes and whispered the name of her jutsu before she winced in pain. A small fire erupted from her fingertips and began consuming her arm. The skin blackened and the same orange-red streaks appeared upon her arm as seen with Shinkan.

Instead of reforming her fingers to claws some of the skin detached itself only to slowly float down. They moved towards the worst injuries of Sakura and slowly attached themselves, healing her skin.

"Dasshimen?" Sakura muttered with some disbelief audible in her voice.

The blonde girl just shook her head rapidly. "Not now, Sakura-chan. I've got to focus!" she hissed and pinched her eyes closed before uttering a painful moan. A few more seconds went by before Dasshimen rested her burnt arm above a bowl. The fire slipped off her fingers more like a liquid than anything else. As soon as the fire was burning inside the bowl she threw some herbs into it.

The room was almost immediately filled with a heavy, nauseating scent. Even Dasshimen herself stood wobbly upon her feet. She flicked her wrist and the wounds upon her hand started to heal, slowly. They were using some of the ashes created by the burning herbs.

The young medic took another bowl and filled that one with a small amount of water, poured some herbs and a strange liquid before also setting that substance aflame.

"What are you doing?" Sakura questioned the girl's actions. She had never seen anything quite like this though she had to admit that somehow her pain had faded away and her wounds were healing.

"Haiton." Dasshimen muttered as she took a seat, still holding the seal with her hands and focusing her chakra upon the two bowls. "My sister didn't explain it? How it uses ashes to recreate into human flesh? It originally isn't used the way she does it. It was originally used for healing, that is what I'm doing now."

The pinkette was slightly amazed at the skill of the girl, she had never received any proper training on the matter yet she could perform such a good job.

"But please, Sakura-chan." The young girl whispered. "Go to sleep, it'll be better when you wake up again. I promise." The smile she received warmed Sakura inside, it was good to know that she wasn't in some sick, twisted world with only humans as Hidan, Kakuzu and foremost things like Shinkan.

"Thanks, Dasshimen." Were the last things she muttered before nodding off into a blissful sleep.

-o-

Once outside the base Shinkan materialized again and stood for a few seconds in place. Her head turned slowly back to gaze at the building. Her blazing, orange eyes narrowed when thinking of what had happened inside. That pink-haired tramp was becoming a rather big thorn in her side. It was one thing to put her naïve sister against her it was another to convince someone like Deidara to protect her.

Shinkan knew that boy to be a man of simple needs. Give him an explosion and he'd smile. But he couldn't look beyond that 'bang'. He couldn't see past his own pleasure to see the big picture.

She scoffed and shook her head. Suddenly she noticed the surroundings. The darkness around her, as was common in Aasugakura since it was hidden underground. Occasionally the darkness was penetrated by a beam of light coming from a crack or crater above them. Any other man wouldn't build a city underground but they were simple-minded. The soil was fertile, very fertile. And cultivating crops or plants was not difficult, if one did it in such a patch of light.

She could no longer see the green patches of grass, she couldn't smell the fresh fruits in the trees anymore. What rested of those green patches had been overgrown with weeds, thistles, dandelions… Overgrown with filth…

Shinkans eyes wandered over to the darkened regions of the town, the centre of Aasugakure. The lion's den. A big gaping maw which only allowed the big, fat and wealthy to survive.

Her talons ached for an unfinished task to be completed. Her chakrapool, within her body, demanded to be refilled, her mind yearned for a release of frustration while her ears required agonizing screams in the air.

A faint smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth. There was an opportunity to slake all those needs. She had sensed it.

"You finally got a dick between those smoky legs of you, didn't you?" a voice suddenly sounded from the mansion. She didn't regard it, she knew who the owner was without even listening to the voice. The mere vocabulary and the subject were enough. "Why else would a cold bitch like you be smiling like a drooling moron?"

"Hidan," the name sounded vicious and hostile as she spoke it. "I am in no need to hear such vulgarities coming from the likes of you."

"Fuck, Shinkan… What's with the damn attitude? You're always a bitch but who the fucking hell managed to ram that stick even further up your ass?"

Her eyes adverted themselves from the horizon to glare at Hidan. "As if you aren't aware of the current situation…"

The Jashinist blinked a few times, staring at her dumbly while silently awaiting an answer. It ticked Shinkan even more off than when he was insulting her again.

"I hope you are well aware of the dumbfounded look upon your face… If not I should recommend you to see a physician." She sighed softly as it was clear that the man had no idea of what she was talking about. "You are aware of the lesson I was teaching our captive, are you not? Well, I was interrupted by our maestro of detonations." She spat those words out as if they were poison, crinkling her nose in irritation and disgust.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Deidara decided to take the little hostage over, fearing I might murder his little flower."

For once Hidan didn't laugh at her misery or misfortune. He actually scoffed and leant into the frame of the door. "Freaking heathen bastard. He doesn't know shit about dealing pain. You fucking see now how I feel when I don't get to fucking do what I want? I haven't been able to sacrifice a single man to Jashin just 'cause we're stuck in this godforsaken hellhole!"

Shinkan moved her eyes from Hidan back at the horizon, her smirk reappearing on her face. "That is true, I recall discussing with Kakuzu whether we'd let you loose in these parts or not. He feared you might get overambitious and get the entire criminal underworld on your head while we were here."

"Tsk! What does that cocksucking fucker know about me? He doesn't know shit! I'll just kill a few guys here, a few there and that's it. No big, fucking deal. Besides…. Isn't this hole infested with men with high bounties on their heads? I don't see why Kakuzu isn't hunting his ass off…"

"Because criminals are low enough to sell information to neighboring countries and once Konoha knows of our little location things might get ugly. I would prefer not to have either Tsunade, Kakashi nor any ANBU on my tail. They tend to be difficult to shake off." Shinkan shifted her weight upon one of her legs, embracing herself with her arms as a chilling breeze floated through the air.

"Tsk, weak bitch…"

"I am no warrior, Hidan. I was chosen to be part of Akatsuki for other reasons." She paused while staring at the face of the silver-haired priest. "You wish a few sacrifices, do you not?"

The man piped up like a dog, his eyes glittering with malice. "Fuck yeah!"

Shinkan walked slowly towards Hidan, keeping her senses upon a point behind her. Her voice dropped to a conspiring whisper. "Spread out your chakra towards those rock formations… What do you feel?"

He thought it to be a strange question until he did what he was asked. His smile widening to a horrible smirk before screaming in enthusiasm. "Oh Jashin, I fucking love you!"

Shinkan had opened her mouth to comment something but closed it again as she saw that the zealous man had already jumped over her, heading head-first into battle.

Before she could even turn around she heard painful howls of his unfortunate victims.

They were neonate shinobi. Their chakra-hiding skills were at a minimal and they were stupid since they didn't even notice Hidan heading their way. Or they were just skilled humans. It didn't matter. They would die this night.

No one could spy upon Akatsuki without paying a price for it.

As the breeze picked up again she dissipated into ashes and let herself get carried off towards the source of agony, joining into some of the fun at least.

_A/N: Please Review if you want ^^ _

_I'll be grateful if you did ^^ _


End file.
